Losing Sight
by PikaScootaloo
Summary: When Twilight wakes up on a beach as an Eevee, her natural response is to try and find a way home and to deal with whatever force brought her there. Upon meeting some residents that bear striking similarities to her friends, she starts to question just how much this "force" has done. Discoveries will be made, adventures are abound. Title will make sense later in the story.
1. Uncharted Territory

Through the three years Twilight had been in Ponyville, she had learned so much about friendship. More than any pony thought possible, really. Everything she learned has been valuable in her everyday life. In a way, it had changed her. No longer was she the recluse bookworm who never dared to do anything remotely social. She had friends. Friends who would stay with her through thick in thin.

There was Pinkie Pie, arguably the first on she had met. Pinkie... never seemed to take anything seriously, to put it nicely. Though, there was nothing that could get rid of her bubbly and optimistic outlook. In a way, this made her the best one to hang out with when others were down.

Then Fluttershy, who hated attention and was always scared to try new things. This changed a little throughout their friendship, though never a lot. In fact, Twilight would probably bet all the bits she had that Fluttershy would rather have Angel Bunny face a dragon than herself if the dragon wasn't harming her friends. If the dragon was nice like Spike? She'd be giving it so many hugs it'd be like toxic after awhile.

Rainbow Dash was an arrogant, boastful, boisterous annoyance most of the time. Such a bragger. Though there was no masking the undying loyalty she had for her friends. An Ursa Major running around Everfree Forest? That wasn't her problem. An Ursa Major running around Ponyville, harming her friends. That constellation must have had a death wish. Though... Rainbow Dash severely overestimates her abilities. She would definitely be reckless enough to fight an Ursa Major if it was hurting her friends, but to _win_ the fight? She'd probably need some of Pinkie's randomness and uncanniness to even stand a chance.

Rarity was the epitome of a drama queen. Takes so many things seriously, it's no surprise she hasn't lost any of her friends with that. That's probably because, underneath the cliche "drama queen acting like queen of the world", she was an honest to Celestia friend who'd very much rather see their happiness more than her own. It was touching how far she'd go for her friends.

Applejack was a stark contrast to Rarity. Just a simple, hardworking mare who could be very stubborn at times. Though, as long as you didn't do anything completely idiotic, she was a joy to have around, if not the sanest of the bunch. If Twilight remembered correctly, there was one time where Applejack didn't learn a friendship lesson, because she knew it all along. That was the Flim Flam incident, wasn't it? Yes, she was certain of it. There were also countless times Applejack would give others the hard truth instead of beating around the bush. Which was a blessing, considering that Applejack was a horrible liar, and she darn well knew that.

And finally, Spike, Twilight's number one assistant. He was more of a little brother than a friend, really, but there was no masking the bond the two of them shared. Hmm... Now that she thought about it, in a way, it was like he was all the elements put into one. He's loyal enough to stick by her side and cheer her on, funny enough (_just _barely, though) to cause the others to giggle from time to time, kind enough to do his chores around the library even on his days off, generous enough to give his precious gem away (though this was only to Rarity), and truthful enough to where he was comfortable talking to Twilight about anything that troubled him. Not to mention the magic that was created with the bond the two of them shared.

She loved her friends. But sometimes they could all get on her nerves. That was okay, though. As she had put it once before in the Discord fight, _friendship isn't always easy, but no doubt it's worth fighting for!_ If she were to do things again, she'd probably do things exactly how they happened.

That'd be really hard to do if she was in a foreign world, though.

* * *

The vibrant rays of the sun shone in Twilight face, making her squint her already closed eyes. Precariously, she opened them, putting a foreleg up to block the brightness. Not a moment later did her jaw go slack.

She saw... water. Lots of it. It seemed to be a somewhat small lake, on account of how she could see some land over the horizon. Twilight then realized the sandy surface under her, which was... sand.

_I'm on a beach, _she analyzed. _With no idea how I got here. Terrific._

She noticed how her head wasn't in contact with sand, but rather on a rock. Twilight tried to lift her head up, but a sharp pain in her neck forced her to set it back down. This was shaping up to be a rather interesting experience, sarcasm completely intended.

Twilight let out a long weary sigh and pursed her lips. If she knew a thing or two about the geography of Equestria, it was that there were absolutely no lakes there. Ponds, rivers, and the likes, yes, but no lakes. Perhaps she was in griffin territory, but she dismissed that idea just as quickly. The griffins had kept their area so unkempt, _all the bodies of water dried up_. She was still trying to figure out just how that was possible.

Manticore territory? No. For that to be a possibility, there'd have to be fire everywhere. A calm lake was most definitely not fire.

One thing was true, though. She was most definitely not in Equestria anymore. Her rampant thoughts stopped short when she heard an all too familiar voice.

"Um... hello?"

She tried her darn hardest to not shoot her head up, otherwise she'd be nursing a stinging neck all night. Instead, she raised her head up slowly, _ever so slowly_, and what she saw dashed her hopes. This voice, while soft and polite just like Fluttershy, was most definitely not her friend. It didn't even resemble her.

This creature was... green. A palish green. Its head was about the same size as its body, and a large leaf sprouted from it. Its legs seemed so stubby and small, it couldn't possibly hold its mass. Though it did. Twilight made a mental note to study that later.

But there was one thing that made Twilight's heart stop. Those eyes. _Those eyes_. The fragility that resided in its eyes was clear as day, masking the underlying concern for Twilight's well being. This _had _to be Fluttershy. Nopony else would have those eyes.

"... Fluttershy?" Twilight asked slowly, as if saying anything wrong would cause it to run away crying. And, if this was really Fluttershy, that was a high possibility.

The green thing visibly winced and lowered its head. "I'm sorry, I think you have me confused with another Pokemon..."

It took Twilight a good few seconds to register the last bit of that answer. "Pokemon?"

The thing stared at her, as if she was an idiot. No sooner did it look away, as if thinking that that was a rude thing to think. Which it was. "Um... yes," it said.

"I don't... Pokemon?" she asked again.

"You... don't know what a Pokemon is?" The look it gave her was one with pity, which made Twilight uneasy. "Oh dear... that's not good at all. Maybe you have amnesia?"

Twilight's jaw went slack. For some reason, she felt threatened at hearing that. She wanted to say something along the lines of _I have amnesia? Look who's talking!_, but suppressed the urge, and instead gave a calm answer. "I don't have amnesia. I know who I am, I know everything about the world around me. But I don't know this place, _because I've never been here_, and I don't know what this _Pokemon_ is, _because I've never interacted with one_." She kind of regretted being forceful near the end, since the green thing lowered its head and looked to be on the verge of crying.

Before she could apologize, the green thing gave a shaky statement. "I-I'd just thought... it'd be weird that an Eevee wouldn't know what a Pokemon is..."

"An Eevee, wha-" she started, but stopped short when she noticed the foreleg she had up in a questioning manner. It wasn't purple. It was brown. And... she didn't have a hoof. It seemed like a paw. Something that was like what Applejack's dog had.

Twilight spent the next hour passed out.

* * *

There was nothing for a good long while. Then... something started to fade into view. It seemed... wispy. And green. But mostly wispy. This didn't seem like anything to fear. After all, she had been here briefly with Princess Celestia once she had ascended into alicornhood. Twilight remembered asking Celestia about it a while after the coordination.

_"That was Elysium," the princess had answered simply._

_"Elysium? I've never heard of it. It wasn't anywhere in my studies!" This had made Twilight giddy with excitement. It wasn't every day she had found out something she never knew of before. There was so much info to be gathered from it!_

_"Yes Twilight. Elysium is, in essence, the counterpart to Tartarus. That is where either alicorns are born, or mares ascend."_

_Twilight blinked. "So... were you born in Elysium?"_

_The princess gave a smile and nodded. The rest of the conversation was nothing but absorbing the knowledge of what Elysium was and what it had._

This was strange, being in Elysium again. Though, this was the chance to have a look around. After all, the only other time she was here, she was following Celestia through a series of clips of her time in Ponyville.

Time seemed to drag on as Twilight walked through the area. Nothing seemed to change. It seemed to be an infinite realm. But that was absurd to Twilight. There had to be a beginning, and there had to be an end. Simple as that.

It dawned on her that she could just fly around, so her hooves wouldn't be doing all the work. She positioned herself, still not fully used to wings. With much unneeded flair, she jumped up... and fell flat on her face.

She turned around, wondering why her wings weren't working, when she noticed something. There _were_ no wings. Nothing but a big tuft of white fur around her neck and a brown fluffy coat.

She wasn't sure if passing out in a different plane of existence was possible, but she did it anyway.

* * *

She gave an effort to open her eyes, despite feeling weary. The only thing preventing her from falling back asleep was the light from the window. By Starswirl's beard, was that light annoying! Maybe if she set up some curtains, she'd get some sl-

_A window_?! She raised her head with a start and looked around. She was in a small circular room, the only source of light coming from the window. There was absolutely nothing inside the room, apart from the two straw beds, one of which she was on.

Twilight tried her best to ignore the piercing pain of the sore neck she just now noticed and put her attention on how she came in here. Last she remembered, she was at a beach, right? Yes, there was no mistaking it. Then there was that green thing with a striking resemblance to Fluttershy, and then... That's right. The revelation that she was no longer a mare. From what little she could gather, she guessed that she looked slightly like Winona.

A thought crossed her mind. How did she get on the beach in the first place? What had happened that could have caused this... transformation, and had brought her to this place? The mirror that brought her to the human world? No, Luna had said that it wouldn't open for another thirty or so moons. A spell gone wrong? She dismissed that just as quickly. She knew for a fact that she hadn't tampered with any cross dimensional spells. She kind of doubted any of those existed.

So why was she here? And, for that matter, why couldn't she remember how she got here? Maybe the green thing was right. She might have had a bit of amnesia.

Twilight laughed out loud. _A little amnesia_?! That was a poor choice of words. Short term memory loss would've been better suited, though that didn't quite necessarily have the correct meaning. Still, better than _a little amnesia_.

She yawned and stretched her... still forelegs. Hesitantly, she stood up, only to realize that walking wasn't so hard. This body was built almost the same as a pony's body, if a little shorter. Twilight decided to check a mirror when she had the chance so she could properly analyze this new body she was given.

"Oh, you're awake..." came the voice of the green thing. Twilight turned and saw it in the doorway.

"Chatot said you'd, um, be knocked out for some time..."

All their foreign words was getting quite annoying to Twilight. "And this Chatot is?"

The green thing met Twilight's gaze. "You really don't remember anything, do you...?"

Twilight stomped her hoof (paw, whatever). "Stop saying that! I know fully well who I am, I know fully well of my past. But I don't know what a Pokemon is because I've never known one! _How can I know something I haven't known?!_" This time, Twilight didn't regret being so firm.

The green thing stayed silent and turned to the doorway. It gave a small whisper saying, "Come with me, please..."

Twilight followed, and started to study the walkway as she went along. It only took two seconds. The hallway was just straight, with a few doors for rooms here and there. Nothing special.

She was led into a room that was near a ladder. In there was a _brightly colored_ bird that actually made Twilight squint from the brightness, and a big pink... thing. Ugh. So many colors. It seemed to burn her eyes.

The bird got even more annoying when it spoke up, on account of its screechy voice. "This is the Eevee you were talking about?"

The green thing nodded.

"About time it woke up!"

"It?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chatot ignored her. It flew over to the green thing and stared at it, causing it to visibly flinch. "You say you want to start a rescue team?"

"Huh?" That question completely caught it off guard. "I never-"

Chatot landed on the ground and preened its wing, as if it was uninterested in the green thing. "Any Pokemon with the courage to bypass the gate outside completely in favor of an unconscious friend is certainly someone who'd be perfect for a rescue team."

The pink thing nodded. "He's right! We spent all of last night discussing it!"

The green thing blushed and set its gaze to the ground. "I-If you think I'd be good at it..."

The little parrot Pokemon flew towards Twilight, causing her to step back a pace. "That is, if your friend's up to it also!"

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked, though it was more along the lines of a statement.

"Every rescue team needs at least two team members! It's regulations!"

Boy, this was the time when Twilight really needed her personal space. Having that screeching voice ringing so loudly in her ears gave her a migraine.

She took a look at the green thing. Its head was down low, though there was no masking the excitement of the possibility of becoming a rescue team. What that was, Twilight hadn't a clue. All she knew was that thing creature bore a strong resemblance to Fluttershy, and like hay would she disappoint a pony like that.

"Then I guess we're a rescue team," she said bluntly. The green thing's head shot up and gave a smile that would rival even Pinkie Pie's.

In the next few minutes, the pink thing (Chatot had addressed it as "Guildmaster Wigglytuff") gave the green thing a box containing a badge and a pouch. Wigglytuff had allowed both of them to stay in the room Twilight was just in, and in the morning they'd have to come up with a team name.

The two of them went back into the room Twilight had been unconscious in, and the green thing started to get comfortable on one of the straw beds. This, somehow, made Twilight laugh.

"So I guess that's why there are two beds?" she asked. Before the other could answer, Twilight asked a question that had been gnawing on her ever since she realized this wasn't Fluttershy. "So, uh, what's your name?"

It gave a mumble.

"What was that?" To avoid a bout of deja vu, she leaned in closer in an effort to hear better. The next time it mumbled, Twilight knew what its name was. "Chikorita?"

Chikorita nodded.

Silence went on for a good few minutes as the two girls (anything with such a feminine name like that was sure to be female, Twilight decided) situated themselves in their straw beds. Twilight glanced at her companion, who was on her side, facing the window. She had quite a few questions. What other time would be better to ask than now?

"What's a rescue team, exactly?"

Chikorita didn't turn around to answer. "A pair and/or group of Pokemon with the sole intent of helping others in need, whether it'd be a small dissatisfaction or a crisis of epic proportions."

Twilight blinked. That sounded... kind of monotonous. Almost as if it was... "Rehearsed?" Twilight said aloud, finishing her thought. Chikorita gave a small nod.

Silence reigned in for a good while, until Chikorita turned her head. "Good night Eevee."

Huh. It was night? Looks like time flew by faster than she thought. Then she did a mental double take. Eevee? Was that her species name? She opened her mouth to correct her, but she thought better of herself. The names that the others had seemed like the name of their species. It'd be better if she went by her species name like the others. Wouldn't want too much attention for having an actual name in such a foreign place, now would she?

So she didn't answer. Instead, she closed her eyes, and let unconsciousness take her in. The last thing she remembered thinking was, _Then again, Twilight isn't as much a name as the others_.

* * *

**It begins! I've got a really good feeling about this story and where it's going to lead. If this chapter seems a little too small, don't worry. The next chapter will definitely be longer.**

**Criticism is obliged! And if someone could make a cover for this story, that'd be great.**


	2. Nightmare of Horror

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_I know you told me that friendship reports weren't mandatory anymore (though, knowing me, I'd still send them unless you specifically told me not to), but this isn't a letter of friendship. It's for help._

_I'm stuck in a place. I'm not sure what it's called, though I know that it's certainly far away from Equestria. There aren't any ponies living here; just some creatures called Pokemon. What's worse is that I was somehow_ transformed _into one of these creatures. An Eevee, as they called it. I haven't had the chance to study this new form that much, though I'm sure that it's built like a pony, except that I have no horn nor wings (if this letter seems... sloppy, the absence of a horn is why)._

_What's the most intriguing about this place is that I met another one of these Pokemon. A Chikorita, I think. But this Chikorita sounded _exactly_ like my dear friend Fluttershy. This could being one of three things: she's an alternate Fluttershy like the one in the human world, she really is Fluttershy and she somehow doesn't remember anything about Equestria and was input with memories of this new life, or this really isn't Fluttershy. I'm certain that it's not the latter, though. If you saw the eyes the Chikorita had, you would know that only one mare would have those eyes: Fluttershy._

_I don't know where exactly this place is. I don't know how this letter will reach you. But if it does, please Princess, help me. I just want to go home to my friends. And... if this Chikorita really is Fluttershy, I want her to come home as well._

_Your faithful student,_  
_Twilight Sparkle_

She had went over the letter a thousand times in her head, to the point where she had it down word for word. Oh, how she wished she had something to write with. And, while she was at it, she wished she was able to write with these stubby little paws.

It was already noon, and she was still in her straw bed, thinking the entire time. She had convinced Fl-... Chikorita that she was feeling unwell, and opted to skip out on breakfast. She didn't like lying to something that was essentially Fluttershy, but she had to nonetheless. If Twilight was going to ever return to Equestria, she needed to have a plan. And to have a plan, she needed to think.

She tossed and turned in her bed, completely infuriated at herself. No matter how much she thought, _she couldn't come up with a plan!_ Her mind kept drawing a blank, which was a rare occurrence for the mare. There had been a few times she had come up with an idea, but it was fillyslapped out of her mind with a flaw that was simply and logically pointed out.

Find a spell? She didn't have a horn, how would she have been able to use magic?

Look around Elysium more? Nope. She hadn't the faintest idea exactly how to reach there by choice.

Seek out help from someone who might be in the same position as she was in? That wouldn't be any good. If this alternate Fluttershy (or impostor, or completely irrelevant being, whatever) had no memories of her Ponyville life and instead had the memories of her life in this... place, why would anypony else that was an alternate version remember?

This last thought was the one Twilight dwelled on the most. She stopped squirming and sat upright, her gaze blank as she processed the idea in her brain and what it actually meant. If her friends had completely different lives here and had no idea of the existence of Equestria...

Why didn't she? Why wasn't she living in bliss as an Eevee like Fluttershy was as a Chikorita? Why was she haybent on returning if her friends weren't. Why...

Why wasn't she home?

She blinked, her glazed look gone, though it was now that she realized half her vision was obscured by tears. Slowly, she laid her head down on the soft straw bed, and drifted off into sleep, tears coursing down her face.

* * *

Her eyes opened and she sat up. To her disappointment, she wasn't in Elysium like she had hoped.

_Falling asleep doesn't bring me there,_ she thought to herself, then sneered. _Of course. There's a catch. There's_ always _a catch_ just_ for me._

She stood up and gave a nice stretch. Twilight had been in bed for who knows how long; she needed to move around! It was then that she noticed her brown paw. That's right. She hadn't looked in a mirror yet, had she? It would do her good to gaze in a reflection so she'd have a better understanding of this new body, and hopefully cope with it better.

_Clink!_

Her ears perked up and she looked past the open door and into the hallway. Something dropped, that was obvious. What really got her attention was how dark it was. Had she really been asleep this whole time? That'd put her sleeping schedule all out of whack!

She smiled in amusement that that was her first worry, though the smile disappeared when she realized that that wasn't her _only_ worry. Why would she had slept so long? Twilight knew that stressful days warranted more sleep, but this? Sleeping from nightfall yesterday _to_ nightfall, with only an hour awake in between? That had to have been at _least_ twenty four hours. It was ridiculous. Completely, utterly—

Another clink, this time louder. On instinct, her ears perked up yet again. What _was _that sound? A button falling? A drop of water? A coin?

It was then she realized that she was hyperventilating. _Get a grip Twilight!_ she scolded herself. _This isn't anything to be afraid of._

_But it's dark out there!_ another part of her, the frightened part, argued.

_There's nothing wrong with darkness. Darkness_ isn't_ anything. It's merely the absence of light that prevents you from seeing the world around you._

_No no, not the dark itself. What's_ in_ the dark! There's no telling what's there. They've got the element of surprise!_ This "Twilight" seemed to be breathing rapidly in a panicked manner. The calmer Twilight smirked.

_We've got the Element of Magic,_ she told her other side simply.

No response. The breathing seemed to have regulated back to a normal, calmer state. _You're right._

With that, Twilight stopped arguing with herself and managed to quell her fears. She took a step towards the door and gave a glance at Chikorita. Twilight didn't take another step. Instead, she looked back at Chikorita, this time her eyes widened.

_She wasn't there._

It took every ounce of willpower she had to prevent herself from rushing over to the straw bed and checking every which way for even a remote resemblance to her roommate. Instead, she gave a hard gulp, one that definitely hurt her throat, and turned to the hallway. The dark... lifeless... Chikorita-eating—

She shook her head. Now was not the time to get discouraged. Or to think about Chikorita eating hallways. That alone was just too absurd. Besides, if Chikorita wasn't in the room, she had to have gone through the hallway. All the more reasons to go through.

Taking a deep breathe, Twilight put one paw outside the door, and instantly reeled it back in. The ground was cold. So cold, it was like liquid nitrogen. So freezing that it felt like _burning_. No, that was ridiculous, the idea that the ground could be so cold. Hesitantly, she put her paw back to where it was, and, thankfully, the ground wasn't cold anymore.

_It's your head Twilight,_ she thought to herself. _Don't let it get to you._

She was half expecting a rebuttal from her scared side, though it never came. All the better for her.

She took her other paw and took a second step on the darkness filled ground. It wasn't cold. That was enough incentive to have her keep walking, and soon she was inside the entirety of the darkness. She kept walking. And walking. And walking.

Celestia, was this hallway long. No hallway should be this long. Not even one made by Discord or— heavens forbid —Pinkie Pie.

Twilight stopped. No hallway should be this long. _So why was it this long?_

As if on cue, another clinking sound came, this time startlingly close to Twilight. Almost as if it was right behind her...

She gazed back, though there was nothing that produced the clinking sound. Or there could have been. She didn't know, on account of how dark it was. With a sigh, she turned back and continued walking. No sooner did she stop again when she heard something. Not a clinking sound. More like murmuring of several different voices. Twilight tilted her head and her ears flicked, trying to listen in on the murmuring.

_"Twilight Sparkle... Twilight Sparkle..."_

She blinked. It sounded like they were saying something. No, they were chanting. But she couldn't hear the words. Her ears focused in more until the words were clearly evident.

_"Twilight Sparkle... Twilight Sparkle..."_

An eerily chill feeling coursed down through her spine and she shuddered. There was no mistaking it. They were chanting _her name_. _Hers_. What's worse, they were getting louder. Almost as if...

As if they were following her.

Twilight's legs started to move on their own in a brisk pace the opposite direction of the voices. But it was futile; they were _still_ getting louder.

_"Twilight Sparkle... Twilight Sparkle..."_

She sprinted into a fierce gallop, her legs kicking into overdrive. She ran and she ran through the endless hallway, never once seeing a door or anywhere to hide through. She just had to keep running. Keep running until she could finally evade the voices. Or...

_"Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle."_

The voices were gradually chanting faster and faster, and louder and louder, forcing Twilight to run even faster than before. Soon, she had reached her athletic limit, which was unfortunately very low in terms of stamina. Still, every time she heard the voices getting louder, she went even faster, overcoming her limit.

Her legs were screaming at her to stop running. Her lungs wailed at her to stop running. Her brain tried reasoning with her to make her stop running. None of that mattered. Those little things were stuffed in the back of her subconscious. Only one thing rang out: _**Run.**_

_"Twilight Sparkle Twilight Sparkle"_

And so she did. On and on, through the endless hallway. On and on did she force herself to ignore her body's plea at her to stop. On and on did she try desperately to evade the voices. But every time she went faster, the voices got louder.

_"TWILIGHT SPARKLE TWILIGHT SPARKLE"_

Finally, her body decided it was too much pressure. It shut itself down, and Twilight fell to the ground, having absolutely zero energy to move, much less talk. She could hear the voices closing in, and she could only lie there in fear for the voices that were evident to come.

**_"TWILIGHT SPARKLE TWILIGHT SPARKLE"_**

The last thing she saw was the darkness that enveloped her.

* * *

"Eevee, Eevee wake up!"

Twilight's eyes shot open and she bolted up, sitting upright. Harsh, panted breathes came from her, making it hard to breathe. Her eyes, filled with fear as if she saw the devil himself, darted around the room, and it was then that she noticed Chikorita next to her, a worried expression plastered on her face.

"Wh-" Twilight started to say, but her dry throat forced her to only give a hoarse wheeze. She swallowed hard and tried again. "W-What—"

"Youwerescreaminginyoursleep," Chikorita said hurriedly. Noticing she was speaking too fast, she tried again. "Y-you were screaming in your sleep."

Twilight's jaw was agape. She was screaming? Was the nightmare really that bad? So bad as to have her _screaming_?! She swallowed and spoke again. "What... What was I screaming?"

Chikorita didn't answer. She just made eye contact with her, making Twilight feel uneasy. What was she doing, anyway? Was Chikorita _reading_ her? As if to see if she was lying or not? No, that was silly. A question wouldn't be a truth or a lie.

No, it wasn't that. She blinked as she realized the more probable reason. She was probably doing that... to decide if Twilight could handle being told or not.

Chikorita finally turned away, and simply mumbled something incoherent. She walked towards the door and stopped. Was she... Twilight could have sworn that she was shaking.

"Dinner will be in ten minutes," she said, just loud enough for Twilight to hear. Her voice didn't seem to have a shaking undertone. It was more like a depressed acceptance. Which was probably exactly how Chikorita was feeling.

Twilight gulped, wondering in fearful curiosity if what she was screaming really was that bad.

* * *

Dinner was a relief and a half as Twilight gobbled down her dinner faster than anyone else, which got her quite a few stares. Aside from that, she was able to meet the other guild members. Much to her disappointment, none of them seemed similar enough to any of her other friends, nor did they have the same eye as them. Huh. Now that Twilight thought about it, it was amazing that she could find out so much just by simply reading others' eye expressions.

As they ate (or, in Twilight's case, waiting for everyone else to eat), the brown beaver thing pointed a fork at Twilight. "You two are the new members, right?"

Before Twilight could say anything, Chikorita answered instead. "Oh yes, we just started today."

A sunflower looking thing spoke up, with an insanely goofy grin on its face. "I didn't see the Eevee at rolecall today!"

"I was sick," Twilight blurted out a little too hastily.

The brown thing shrugged. "Yup yup, we heard from Chatot and Chikorita." He huff his chest and put a paw to it. "I'm Bidoof, yup yup!"

_Silly name, silly beaver,_ Twilight thought. Instead, she simply nodded and introduced herself by her new alias. "I'm Eevee. Pleasure to meet you." She took a quick look around the table and at all the exotic creatures there. "Mind introducing me to the others?"

Bidoof beamed. He stood up on the table, much to the annoyance of the others. He pointed to the sunflower. "That right there's Sunflora, and she's really excited to make new friends, yup yup."

"Oh my gosh! Super nice to meet you Eevee!"

_A carbon copy of Pinkie Pie. Joy,_ she lamented inwardly.

Bidoof turned to a big... purple thing. It was really hard to see _what_ that thing was. "The purple guy over there's Loudred. He's our daily alarm clock!"

Loudred sneered. "Didn't wake you guys's up 'cause it's your first day and all. Don't expect that every day ya bums!"

_Belittling jerk._

Bidoof turned to the four... moles? that weren't in chairs, but rather in the ground. Three of them were clumped up in a group.

"The lil' one's Diglett, and the bigger one's Dugtrio. Diglett helps Loudred with the footprint detection, and Dugtrio updates the job board, yup yup!" he explained.

Diglett just gave a smile and a nod. Dugtrio, in three voices in perfect unison, replied wiith a smirk. "Ha! If it weren't for us, none of you would even _be_ here!"

_Egotistic little horse apples._

Bidoof continued and turned to a red lobster. "The one there's Corphish! He... does stuff! Yup yup!" He gave a small chuckled.

"Hey hey, don't you start too ya jerk! I'm really important here!" the Corphish huffed.

Loudred gave a wry smile and leaned in to the table. "Like what?"

Corphish was silent.

_Annoying filly with an annoying voice. Next._

Bidoof turned towards the floating bell thingy that was, well, floating near the door. "There's Chimecho! She's the cook and she takes care of team members not really apart of the guild, yup yup!" Twilight didn't even want to make sense of that last part.

The Chimecho blushed and turned away. "Oh, I'm not _that_ good a cook."

_Modest and under confident, probably to mask how weak she perceives herself to be._

Bidoof turned to the blue and black striped frog creature. "Last but not least, we've got Croagunk, yup yup! He handles everything with the thingamajig and stuff." With that, he finally sat back in his seat.

Croagunk raised an eyebrow. "Really? You don't stop for one second to think of exactly _what_ my business entails?" He didn't wait for an answer. He just continued eating.

_... This one's alright,_ she thought. She looked around the table, taking a glance at each guild member. First impressions were important, and most of them gave horrible ones, but if her time in Ponyville proved anything, it's that friends can be made if she just set her heart to it. Perhaps tomorrow she'd take the time and hang out with a few of them.

Her gaze shifted from the othersand went to Chikorita. "I'm sure Chikorita and I will be happy here."

Chikorita turned to Eevee and let out a small gasp, as if she wasn't expecting that answer. Twilight's reassuring look made Chikorita give a small nod, and they both returned to their food (or in Twilight's case, her empty food bowl).

The rest of dinner consisted of the other guild members making small talk, and that actually allowed Twilight to learn more about them. Sunflora's actually pretty capable of getting the others in order, Bidoof's a bit naive but has his heart in the right place, and Loudred and Corphish have some sort of friendly rivalry, to name a few. These creatures weren't so bad as she thought.

Before she knew it, dinner was over and everyone either did some "rescue jobs" or went to sleep. Chikorita and Twilight had opted to go back to their room.

"So Chikorita," Twilight said. "What's a rescue job?"

"It's... hard to explain," she answered as she situated herself in her bed.

Twilight couldn't help but chuckle. "I've got time."

"Okay... Remember what I told you last night? Of, uh, what a rescue team does?"

She had to look through her memories a bit before recalling that night. "Right, that. And rescue jobs are what teams do to rescue others?"

Chikorita was startled, as if she wasn't expecting for her to catch on so quickly. "Um, yes."

They didn't talk any more after that. Instead, Twilight situated herself in her bed while Chikorita drifted off into slumber. Though, it was clear to Twilight that Chikorita wasn't going into a _peaceful_ sleep. She was visibly shaking, and that tore Twilight's heart up. She didn't want to see her friend frightened. It didn't matter if it was Fluttershy or not, Chikorita was her friend.

Before she could do anything, Chikorita stopped shaking. Then, slow, deep breathes. Twilight gave a relieved sigh. She had fallen asleep. And she should do the same.

Despite being asleep for most of the day, it was relatively easy for Twilight to fall asleep. And, much to her immense relief, she had no dreams for the night, much less nightmares. For Chikorita... the same couldn't be said.

* * *

**A/N: I honestly thought this chapter would have been at least five thousand words. Still, it's only about thirty words more, so it ****_is _****longer than the last. **

**Next chapter there'll finally be a mission for the team, one you might not necessarily expect.**


	3. A Piece of the Relic

_Tip tap_

Twilight's eyes opened. With a big, refreshing yawn, she sat up and stretched her forelegs. Oh, how great it was to have one peaceful night of sleep.

_Tip tap_

Hmm? A noise? She turned to the direction it can from, which was near the door. Sure enough, she saw Loudred sneaking up to Chikorita. It was then that he noticed Twilight was awake. Before she could say anything, he put a finger to his lips to signal for her to stay quiet.

Even though she was confused, she nodded to agree that she would stay silent. A wry smile molded on Loudred's face, and Twilight wondered if it was a mistake to stay quiet.

The purple being went right behind the sleeping Chikorita. "WAAAAKE UP!" he yelled. Not a second later, Chikorita was sprung from her bed, shaking from the sudden yell.

Twilight's jaw went slack, though it was then replaced with an expression of anger. Who did this alarm clock thing he was, scaring poor Chikorita like that. He should have known how frail and sensitive she was. There was absolutely no reason to do such a thing other than to get himself a cheap, cruel laugh.

Before she could call him out on it, however, Loudred had already left the room laughing his heart out. She grunted, and went by her friend's side. Chikorita was still shaking, though now she was repeatedly sniffing, as if on the verge of crying. It tore Twilight's heart seeing her friend in this position.

With great caution, Twilight approached her shaking friend. "Chikorita? Are you okay?"

Chikorita nodded. Or, well, Twilight thought she nodded. It was hard to tell with all the shaking.

Twilight glanced at the doorway, then back at Chikorita. "I think rolecall's about to start. Do you..." She faltered as she saw the sniveling Pokemon slowly stand up.

"N-No... let's g-go..." Chikorita said, sniffling after each word.

As Chikorita stumbled past her, Twilight couldn't help but feel pity for her friend. And then the pity turned to anger. Who did Loudred think he was, scaring Chikorita like that? There was absolutely no reason to, other than to do it for fun.

She mentally sneered. _For fun? What kind of jerk would think that was fun?!_ she thought. Then she answered herself. _Loudred, of course._

Not wanting to miss rolecall, Twilight broke out of her thoughts and followed Chikorita into the main room.

* * *

"...Three! Smiles go for miles!"

"Good, everyone," chirped Chatot to the rest of the guild members just as Twilight and Chikorita entered. His happy expression quickly turned into a sneer. "Look who decided to show up."

If Twilight didn't like the bird before, she definitely hated him now. Before she could say anything, Chatot continued.

"Now then, I know you all have met Chikorita—" He lifted a wing in Chikorita and Twilight's direction. "—and you've probably seen the Eevee at dinner last night, but today, we'd like to formally welcome them to our guild. Introducing Guildmembers Chikorita and Eevee!"

A chorus of 'hi's and 'hello's and even the occasional 'meh' rang out. Chikorita blushed slightly, and Twilight gave a quick eye roll.

Of course, Loudred spoke up. "These guys don't look so tough. Why'dja let them join?" His tone was entirely condescending, and it took a lot of Twilight's willpower to not levitate him upside down so he'd crash on the g–

She stopped herself and inwardly groaned. She was still an Eevee, and that meant she couldn't use magic. So she was forced to just sit there as Chatot answered Loudred.

"Why, the Chikorita actually disregarded the footprint gate entirely to make sure the Eevee would get help from us in case it was seriously hurt! That shows courage and dedication!"

Twilight's eye twitched. Not for being called an 'it', but because of what Chatot had said next.

"The Eevee... it was pretty much just so Chikorita could form a rescue team with it."

How dare he! Calling her an 'it' was one thing, but to downright say that she was only there to be there was infuriating to her.

Loudred gave a big hearty laugh, startling everyone. "Man, ain't that the truth!"

_Finally_ someone stood up for Twilight. "_Loudred!_ You know that's not nice!" Much to her surprise, the speaker was Sunflora.

Loudred rolled his eyes. "C'mon Sunflora, you know these two don't look so team material!"

"Neither do you!"

"Ya _know_ I ain't in a team."

"Then don't be so judgy-mental about them!"

"Shaddup," was his rebuttle. Sunflora's was to give a menacing glare, which... wasn't all that menacing. But it seemed to be enough. Loudred averted her gaze and crossed his arms in a huff.

Chatot cleared his throat, resulting in everyone's attention to be directed at him. "Now that _that's_ out of the way, it's time to dish out the jobs for today. Loudred and Diglett, you're on Sentry Duty."

Loudred fist pumped, and Diglett smiled.

"Dugtrio and Chimecho, you're doing your respective jobs."

Both smiled, though Dugtrio's was more of a prideful smirk.

"Sunflora and Corphish, you two will be handling missions and jobs today."

"As a team?" asked Sunflora.

Chatot shrugged. "That's optional. Bidoof—"

Bidoof tensed in anticipation.

"You will be giving Chikorita and Eevee a tour of Treasure Town."

_Treasure Town,_ Twilight thought. _So that's the name of this place._

Bidoof gave a big smile and opened his mouth to cheer.

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!"

...until a shrill voice interrupted him.

With a sigh, Chatot went over to the ladder that lead to the above floor. "Pardon me, everyone, but I have some business to take care of." With that, he left, and everyone started to idly chat.

Everyone except Twilight, that is. So many thoughts were swimming through her brain, it felt overwhelming. She just stood there, her eyes glazed over as she became entranced in her thoughts. Or, rather, one in particular.

That screeching voice was too familiar to her. There was no mistaking it. It had to be...

"Rarity..." she murmured to the point where no one could hear her.

A crash from the upper floor snapped her out of her trance, followed by a squawk.

"PLEASE CALM DOWN!" they all heard Chatot scream.

Chimecho turned to the Guildmaster, who was just standing next to the door of his room. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff, shouldn't you do something?"

There was a moment of silence. And then...

"...zzz..."

Twilight blinked. Was the Guildmaster sleeping? On the job? She was appalled. What kind of leader would fall asleep on the job, especially during rollcall? A quick glance at everyone's reactions surprised her; No one thought of it as unusual. All they did was groan. This must have been a regular occurance.

Oddly enough, she was beginning to respect Chatot more. It must have been stressful to be second in command and to do double the work. It was only natural that he'd act how he was now.

_That still doesn't excuse him for calling me inferior,_ she thought.

"I HAVE BEEN WAITING TWO DAYS! THEY'RE PROBABLY GONE WITH IT BY NOW!" yelled the screeching voice from above, which was followed by a squawk, then a crash.

_...or maybe it does._

She shook her head so she'd get out of her thoughts. Leaning her head next to Chikorita, she asked, "I don't suppose this usually happens, does it?" She didn't know why she asked something that she already figured out for herself to Chikorita, of all ponies (no, wait, Pokemon), considering this was Chikorita's second rolecall. Maybe she asked because she felt more comfortable talking to someone that was basically Fluttershy, and she actually wanted to start talking.

Either way, someone else answered instead. It was the little brown mole that wasn't in a trio. Diglett, as she recalled. "Guildmaster sometimes doesn't get enough sleep at night," he answered simply.

Sunflora piped up. "Really? Oh my gosh, I could've _sworn_ he went to sleep at seven!"

A sneer came from Loudred. "Yeah, seven AM."

"Loudred."

"Yeah?"

"It's six thirty," Sunflora told him as if he was an idiot. Which wasn't that far a stretch, considering that he gave her a questioning look as if to ask 'Your point?'.

Twilight answered for her, unable to keep quiet any longer. "Six AM is before seven AM." She worded her sentence carefully.

Loudred merely rolled his eyes and went over to Corphish, who groaned at the interaction.

Then, Twilight felt something light on her shoulder. A leaf. She looked over to see Sunflora, her expression seemed to be of pity.

"Don't worry about Loudred," she assured. "He's always like that." Diglett, who was still there and right next to Sunflora, nodded in confirmation.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "And yet no one does anything about it?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Everyone's used to it! I'm actually surprised he's making fun of you the most; I would've expected Chikorita to be his target."

Chikorita, upon hearing this, shrank back and whimpered.

Sunflora realized her mistake. "Oh! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Chikorita! I didn't mean to offend you!"

"I-It's okay..." she murmurred, her eyes resting on the ground.

Their conversation was interrupted by another shrill shreik from the upper floor. Surprisingly, it was Chatot's, though this did remind Twilight of her thoughts from before.

That was Rarity up there causing all of Tartarus to break loose at the little parrot. Whether or not Rarity could remember of her life in Ponyville was something Twilight had to find out for herself.

She glanced to the ladder, then back at Chikorita, Sunflora, and Diglett. "I'd hate to end our little conversation, but I think I should go and see what's happening up above."

"Why?" asked Diglett.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, then smiled. "Because I might just see a friend of mine." With that, she went to the ladder and climbed to the upper floor. What she didn't know, however, was that Chikorita followed, as well as a certain brown beaver...

* * *

She had never been more right. The simple sight of the place made Twilight cringe.

Papers were scattered, fragments of wood and glass were on the floor, and the walls gained many holes. The two bulletin boards with papers all on them were burnt to a crisp. At one corner of the room was a badly beated Chatot cowering at a... a...

A white coated pony.

For a second, she had thought that this was Rarity as she should have been. A look at the mare's mane dashed those hopes just as quick. The mane was fire. No, not on fire, [i]_fire_[/i] as the mane itself.

Closer examination of the pony made Twilight doubt if this really was her friend. For one, this pony seemed to be lankier than how a regular mare should have been (at least, Twilight thought), and it had no horn. At all.

A single look at the angered mare's eyes washed all those doubts away. The fiery anger partially masked the regal and ever so graceful expression within them, though not fully. There was no mistaking it. This was _definitely_ Rarity.

_Figures,_ she thought with a slight chuckle. _I get turned into a dog and Rarity gets turned into a slightly different pony._

This, of course, brought up the question in her mind whether or not Rarity could remember. Now was as good a time as any to find out.

Seeing that Chatot was badly beaten and 'Rarity' was still panting heavily, Twilight approached the mare slowly. "Er, excuse me miss?" she asked.

The pony snapped her head back and glared at Twilight. When Twilight flinched, the pony stopped glaring and composed herself, albeit slightly.

"Do you... need help with anything?" Twilight asked, as if the wrong choice of words would cause the pony to explode.

The pony stiffened, her eyes examining Twilight and her intentions. Once realizing that she would be someone that could help, she relaxed. "Unless someone can actually chase after those goons, I'm afraid not," she answered, pausing midway to give a glare to Chatot.

"Goons? What did they look like?" asked a voice behind Twilight. Turning around, she finally noticed Chikorita.

"Chikorita? What are you doing?"

"I, um, I followed you," she stammered.

Twilight's deadpanned expression made it clear she didn't approve of it, but wanted to know why.

"I'll explained later," said Chikorita, and she returned her attention to 'Rarity'. "What did these goons look like?"

She scoffed. "Why, they looked like goons, of course!"

"That's not helping your case there," Twilight pointed out.

The white mare sighed. "Oh, I know. But... they stole my Relic Fragment, see, and I was just too surprised to think about having to remember what they looked like." She turned to Chatot, who was still on the floor, and glared once again. "Maybe if this mission was taken two days ago, I might have been able to remember those thieves."

Chatot stood up, his legs still shaking in fear. "A-Ahem. T-Terribly sorry about the wait, miss, but look no further! Team..." He glanced over at Chikorita and Eevee.

Seeing Chikorita gulp, it dawned on her that the two of them never came up with a team name.

"U-Um, well, you see, um..." stuttered Chikorita, trying to find an excuse.

"We're Team Harmony," Twilight finished. This would be the perfect way to test whether Rarity was really there or not, since, if Rarity remembered Ponyville, she'd certainly remember the Elements of Harmony.

Chatot nodded. "Yes, Team Harmony is here to help you!"

'Rarity' trotted over to the two and bent her head down so as to get eye contact with the team. "Thank you so much Team Harmony. Might I have your names?" Before Twilight could answer, the mare gave a gasp and then chuckled. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Ponyta. And you are...?"

'Rarity' put a hoof up, which Chikorita shook first. "I'm Chikorita."

Twilight shook the hoof next. "Eevee." That settled it. This was Rarity, but she was in the same predicament as Chikorita. After all, if she didn't react to the name of Harmony and regarded herself as her species name, it was clear that she had no memories of Ponyville.

Ponyta started to speak again. "They ran off in Beach Cave. I don't know if they're still there, but it's something to start with." She turned to walk away, but stopped. "Once you've completed this task, please bring my dear Relic Fragment to me in the Spinda Cafe. Again, thank you!" With that, she left.

Twilight snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Chikorita speak up. "Team Harmony?"

She shrugged. "I like it."

"It does sound nice."

Chatot flew over to the newly named team and cleared his throat. "Yes, well, it looks like the two of you will be going on a mission today. Your tour around Treasure Town can wait until tomorrow."

An audible groan was heard, though it didn't come from any of the three. Twilight and Chikorita turned to see Bidoof, a frown plastered on his face.

"Aw, this isn't fair..." he lamented.

Chikorita patted him on the back. "Cheer up Bidoof. There's always tomorrow."

Another nod came from Chatot. "Yes. I don't suppose you two know where Beach Cave is, do you?"

Both of the Team Harmony members shook their heads.

"Very well then." He turned to Bidoof. "Bidoof, go and show them where Beach Cave is."

Bidoof stood upright and saluted. "Yup yup, yes sir!" Twilight gave a chuckle. It was almost comical to watch how seriously silly the beaver's stance was.

"What are you waiting for then? Off with the three of you!" He left to the lower floor.

There was a moment of silence before it was broken by Bidoof's sudden laughter.

"What's so funny?" Twilight asked.

He had to calm himself down before answering. "Ahaha, this is too funny, yup yup!"

"What?"

"That he totally forgot we still have rolecall!"

There was another moment of silence before the other two joined in on the laughter.

When the laughter died down, Bidoof motioned to the door. "Let's go ladies! Yup yup!"

* * *

The walk there only took a few minutes, but those few minutes felt like a few hours. Bidoof was running his mouth every second. Despite how annoying it became, it actually served some use to Twilight. He had told the two of them where Spinda's Cafe was so as to meet Ponyta there once the mission was over, and he told them what Beach Cave was. To quote: "It's a cave on a beach!"

They had finally arrived to the beach, though Chikorita couldn't help but stare in awe at the shimmering bubbles that were floating by. Twilight, not wanting to disturb her friend, turned her attention to a rock. Not just _a_ rock; _the_ rock. The only rock on the beach. The rock that gave her a stiff neck when she came too in this world. The rock...

The rock that she was on when she realized that she was the only Equestrian that could actually remember a life there. This brought on a familiar question to Twilight: Why her? Why could she remember and not her friends?

No, she couldn't be so quick on the draw yet. Only Fluttershy/Chikorita and Rarity/Ponyta were confirmed to not be aware of any of this. But... if they were here, that meant that Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack should've been here too, right? If Twilight was able to remember, then at least one of them could, right?

She shook her head. No. She had to face facts. If Chikorita and Ponyta were affected, then the others would be too. She didn't know why she wasn't, whether it was because of an outside force or her Element or _wha_t.

She paused, and rewound her thoughts. Yes... the Element of Magic. It was much stronger than the other Elements (as much as Twilight didn't like to admit it), perhaps that Element protected her? Or had it given her just enough resistance to whatever had done this? It must have been; it was the only thing that made sense. It had to have been right.

So why was it that it felt so wrong?

She turned to where Chikorita was, though she wasn't there. She looked to the direction of the cave and saw that Chikorita was heading there. With haste, she followed.

Bidoof, who was waiting at the entrance, looked more amused than annoyed. "You two ready?"

They both nodded.

"Ready for _everything_?"

Chikorita hesitated, though they both nodded.

"Good! Yup yup!" Bidoof stepped to the side and put his stubby forelegs up, presenting the entrance in an overly-dramatic manner. "Get going!"

With that, they entered.

* * *

_Beach Cave B1F_

"You know, it's not that bad in here," Twilight remarked, and it was true. The large, spacious cave had beauty written all over it. The walls glistened with dew, support beams that really didn't support the cave but added to the scenery were placed at just the right spots. Small ponds of water stayed calm, as if the silence added to the marvel. It was true beauty. Too bad it was just so dark.

Apparently, Chikorita was afraid of the dark, as all that came as a response was a whimper.

The duo kept walking around, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It must have been twenty minutes until Twilight started to speak. "See anything yet?"

Another whimper, and Twilight gave a sigh. "Chikorita, we won't find those thieves unless you actually look."

"I-I am..."

"Then _say so_!" Twilight huffed. After saying this, she stopped walking. Squinting her eyes, she tried to make out the path that was a few meters in front of her. "Say Chikorita..."

"H-huh?"

"I think there are two paths ahead." She pointed a paw to the path that went straight to the other side, though it was pretty narrow. For a full grown mare, that was. In Twilight's new state, she'd have no problem going through that path, and that made her smile as she continued speaking. "That one goes straight ahead and looks safe enough. That one..." She pointed to the path to the right. It went all the way around and would probably take double the time than the other path. The wall provided some leverage for those who didn't like the possibility of falling to their death. But it was narrower, arguably more dangerous than the former. "doesn't look as safe or as short. So, first path?"

Suddenly, Chikorita's eyes widened as she started hyperventilating. "No no no no no! E-Eevee! We can't go that way!"

Chikorita zipped over to the narrow right path. "Please, let's go this way!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I don't know... It doesn't look—"

"_Please_."

That shocked Twilight. Chikorita would never interrupt anyone, much less with that much eviction. Why now?

From what little Twilight could see, it seemed that Chikorita's widened eyes showed fear. For what, she didn't know. Or, well, she did know, since it'd be pretty obvious that it concerned the first path. But she didn't know why.

Twilight could have kicked herself. If her friend was so dead set on going on a different path, she must have had a good reasn. To actually doubt that was beyond stupid. So she went over to Chikorita and the other path.

And no sooner did the first one collapse.

Twilight's face paled, and she turned to the fallen path, then back at Chikorita. At the fallen path, then back at her. She did this a few more times before keeping her gaze at her friend. "How did you..."

"Can I explain later?" she asked, looking to be on the verge of crying.

"Sure?" It was more of a question than a statement.

Team Harmony trudged on, the event soon withered away from their immediate memories as their main goal took focus.

* * *

_Beach Cave B2F_

They'd been traveling for what, an hour now? And yet they were still on the second floor. Twilight really underestimated how big dungeons were.

Just then, Chikorita stopped. Before Twilight could ask what was wrong, she followed her friend's line of gaze to... a pink slug? Was that what got her so freaked out?

"What's so freaky about it?" Twilight asked.

Chikorita gulped, and she took a step back. "T-That's a Shellos!"

Ah, right. There seemed to be an absence of animals in this world, so there wouldn't be slugs, but slug-_like_ Pokemon with the name of Shellos. Twilight would have to remember that.

"And?" she egged on.

Chikorita, rather than answering, gave herself her own momologue. "Okay, think Chikorita. Shellos are... Water types! Right? Um, right! Water is weak to Grass. Oh, but I don't know any Grass type moves!"

Twilight gave a quizzical look. Types, moves, weaknesses... It was all Greek to her. "Can't we just, you know, _walk past it_?"

Chikorita shook her head frantically. "Oh my, no! Don't you know anything about mystery... dungeons. I-I'm sorry, I forgot you weren't familiar with this."

Twilight gave an amused smile, though it went away when they heard the Shellos hiss. Its stance made it clear that it was ready to strike.

"Why don't you battle, Eevee?" she offered. Before Twilight could protest, Chikorita pushed her in front of the feral slug. "It's alright; just listen to what I say and you'll do fine."

The words should have encouraged her, though the tone made it clear that Chikorota was doubtful and afraid of how this would turn out, and that brought a chill down Twilight's spine.

The Shellos was still hissing like a heated tea pot.

"Most Pokemon in mystery dungeons won't attack until you make the first move," Chikorita explained. "Since you're a Normal type, you won't have a disadvantage, but you won't have an advantage either."

She nodded. "Alright, good to know." Knowing that she didn't really have a time limit to fight this Shellos made her relax some. It was also nice to know that she had her own typing, though it seemed pretty plain in comparison to Grass and Water.

_Of course it's plain, it's called Normal type for a reason,_ she thought, her mental voice dripping with sarcasm.

She was so focused in her thoughts that she didn't catch what Chikorita said. "I'm sorry, what?"

She nodded and repeated what she said. "Every Pokemon can learn four moves, and I think Eevee like yourself already know four moves at this point."

"And these are?"

"Um..." Chikorita's face twisted in concentration. Finally she gave up and just answered, "I forget which, but I do know that you know Tackle and Growl, like me. But since Tackle's a Normal type move, it'll be stronger since it shares your typing. And Growl can lower an opponent's Attack, I think..." She looked down to the ground. "Sorry if I'm not being enough help..."

Twilight gave a warm smile. "No, you've done more than enough." She turned back to the _still hissing_ Shellos. "I think I can take it from here."

She readied a stance as she thought on what to do. _Okay, don't be intimidated,_ she thought. _It's just like sparring, right? Oh, but Rainbow's the one who knows the most about sparring! But how hard could it be? Tackle and Growl are self explanatory, after all, and—_

"Grow ow!" the Shellos snapped, hopping in the air.

Best not make it wait. With a determined grin, she took her stance and readied herself. This was it. Her first battle. She had to make the most of it. Why, she didn't know. Maybe it was just an Eevee's instinct, but nevertheless, she was ready for battle.

Twilight lunged.

* * *

"I just don't know what went wrong..." Twilight lied battered on her back on the ground, her fur tangled and clumped in a rat's nest. Her hind leg kept twitching, and she gave a groan.

Chikorita gulped and looked to the side. "My, I've never seen someone get..."

"Defeated? Thrashed? Pulverized?" she deadpanned.

Another gulp. "Um... yes." Hurriedly, Chikorita continued in an effort to lift Twilight's spirits. "I mean, it's not your fault! Who would have expected a Shellos to know—"

"Please, just stop," said Twilight. With a sigh, she spoke again. "Chikorita?"

"Yes?"

"You're doing the rest of the battling."

"I know."

Despite being hurt, Twilight made her best effort to stand up. After a bit, she managed to, with just a slight limp in her hind leg. "Alright then," she said, brushing some dirt off her legs. "Let's continue."

Chikorita gave a pitying look. "Are you sure we should be continuing?"

"Sure I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be?" Even in her harmed state, she asked the question as innocently as a child.

"Because you're hurt?" Chikorita started to sound unsure.

Twilight combed a paw through one of the tangled patches of fur. "It's nothing severe, Chikorita."

"It might be if you still keep going," she pointed out.

Twilight chuckled. "I only have a few scrapes, and I'm just going to be walking."

"But there are wild Pokemon!" she said in a last effort to win the argument."

"We _just_ decided you're going to be fighting the other ones. You _do_ know more about it than me, after all." That sounded weird coming out of Twilight's mouth, for reasons she already knew. Turning back to the direction they were heading before fighting the Shellos, she started walking. "Come on, we still need to get Ra–er, Ponyta's Relic Fragment." Twilight hoped that her friend didn't catch her slip up.

Fortunately, Chikorita showed no signs of acknowledging it, and she follow Twilight's brisk pace deeper into the dungeon.

* * *

_Beach Cave B3F_

"Eevee, do you see the stairs yet?"

Twilight snapped her head back. "We _just_ got off the stairs leading here," she scowled. Seeing Chikorita recoil, she lightened her expression. She turned her head back around and sighed. "Sorry Chikorita... but it's taking a long time to get to the end, and it's starting to annoy me."

Chikorita gave a meek nod. "I see..."

"Again, I'm really sorry," Twilight apologized again, as if the first time wasn't good enough.

Another nod, this time with more effort and a slight smile.

Twilight slowed her pace and took a better look of the area. "This would go a lot faster if we had some light," she murmurred. Yet another inconvenience that could've been solved with magic. Twilight was beginning to hate her predicament even more.

"Are there any torches around?" asked Chikorita. "We could light one of those on fire so we could see." Then she shook her head. "Oh, nevermind..."

Twilight looked puzzled. "But that's a pretty good idea."

"It's just... this is _Beach_ Cave, and it only has Water types. Water type Pokemon would take out any bit of fire or Fire types. Besides..." She shuffled under her stubby little legs. "I'm a Grass type, and I'm afraid I might accidentally catch on fire if we got a torch."

Twilight nodded. It seemed reasonable, if not obvious. Then her thoughts shifted onto the types that Chikorita mentioned. If Grass was strong against Water, and Water takes out Fire, and if Fire beats Grass... "So those are like a type triangle?" she finished her thoughts aloud.

Chikorita looked a little surprised, and... proud? She nodded. "Yes, exactly. It's the same with resistances: Fire doesn't harm Water all that much, Water doesn't cause a lot of damage to Grass, and Grass can barely hurt a Fire type."

Resistances and weaknesses. It didn't seem like a hard concept for Twilight to grasp. Feeling pleased that she knew enough for the time being, she turned the subject back to the torch. "So the torch is out of the question?"

Chikorita nodded.

Twilight nodded as well, this time in acknowledgement. "Okay then. It's probably for the best; we don't want any more wild Pokemon after... us..." She stopped dead in her tracks, forcing Chikorita to make an abrupt stop as well.

"What's wrong?" she asked a bit hurriedly.

Twilight took another look around the area, then turned back to her friend. "Where are all the wild Pokemon?"

Chikorita opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it, probably because she couldn't find anything to say. She too looked around the area, and by the time her eyes rested on Twilight, she was panicking. "I-I don't know!"

"Calm down!" Twilight said. "This should be a good thing. No wild Pokemon means less fights."

"But-but-but," she blubbered, tears verging. She gulped and tried again. "But what if they're hurt?! Or worse!"

Twilight gulped. Pokemon were like animals, right? Then it was only natural for Chikorita to be panicking, since that's what Fluttershy would do if any of her animals were in possible danger. So, with that knowledge, she tried reassuring her. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all this."

"Like what?!"

Her gaze went everywhere but at her friend. "Um..."

_Think Twilight! Say something, anything!_ she thought frantically.

"... A party?" She could have slapped herself. If it was Pinkie saying it, it'd probably work, but it wasn't.

Thankfully, it seemed to somehow calm the panicking Pokemon down. "Y-You sure?"

"Positive," she said, now having to continue with her claim.

"O-Okay..."

Good, she was starting to get calmer. Twilight had to continue. "Feeling better?"

"Mmhmm..." she sniffled.

The moment was cut short when a [i]whoosh![/i] went right behind Twilight, her fur pricking at how close it was. When she turned around, she saw, for a split second, something flying that was turning the corner into one of the passageways.

"I never seen a flying Water type," Chikorita remarked.

Twilight put two and two together. "Because that's not a Water type, _that's the thief!_"

As her friend gasped, Twilight made a run for the passage, Chikorita soon following close behind.

* * *

_Beach Cave B4F_

"There's... no more... running..." Twilight panted.

The flying figure didn't answer that moment. He instead inspected the wall behind him, seeming to be trying to find another path. When it realized that there wasn't one, he sighed and turned around.

A shivering feeling washed over Twilight as she saw the figure's face. It was impossible to make out the eyes, but the smile it had was clear as day, and it would give any sane creature nightmares.

"So it seems," it said, its voice raspy and deep, giving away its gender as male. "Though you forget one thing..."

"Wh-Wha..." mumbled Chikorita.

"I fly, not run." He dove down in the ground... and abruptly disappeared.

Team Harmony ran over to where he was, though there was no sign of him.

"Where... Where is he?!" asked Chikorita.

"He was _right here!_" Twilight gasped.

"Maybe he... he ran away?" Chikorita turned around, seeing if the thief was behind her. He wasn't.

She turned to her friend. "How could he?! We had him... We had him cornered!" Twilight had to stop midway to catch her breathe again.

It just didn't make sense. There were no stairs, wasn't any hole, _nothing_! There had to be a way that he escaped, there just had to!

She started towards where the thief disappeared and started speaking her thoughts aloud. "It just doesn't make sense! There's physically no way for something to disappear like thaaaaaAAAAAT!" All of a sudden, a hole appeared underneath Twilight, causing her to fall for a few long seconds before landing with an _oomph!_.

"Uuugh..." Twilight mumbled. She shook her head and got up. Looking around, she was in awe. It was much more compact and smaller than the other floors, and it was bright enough to where she could actually gape at the beauty. At the end was a mini lake, with a small island of some sort that was about the size of how Twilight would be. Something seemed to be there, though it was too small to see what it was. She could hardly make out the color, but it seemed to be... blue?

"Eevee! Are you okay?!" she heard Chikorita's voice from above say.

Twilight cleared her throat. "I think so. My leg's limping again, but I should be fine," she yelled up.

"Or will you?"

She put her head back down and looked straight ahead. No sooner did her spine tingle with fear. With the new addition of light now, she could see the entirety of the raspy-voiced thief, and he didn't look pretty. His shape was that of a bat with large ears and no legs. What was the most unnerving was that it had no eyes at all. And yet the sight of it somehow made Twilight quiver.

The bat gave a wicked laugh. "Shakin' in your paws already? Sheesh, I didn't even threaten you yet."

Twilight tried her best to pull a courageous face. "Y-You be quiet!"

He flew up in Twilight's face. "What's preventin' me from speaking, huh?"

Twilight tried to move, yet her legs buckled in place under her. She tried talking, but her mind was too focused on the bat's rancid breathe to say anything coherent.

The bat cackled again. "It's my breathe, isn't it?" He backed up a few feet, and Twilight coughed. "Knew it. Ain't that disappointed. Proud, actually, since my putrid breathe's the best there is." His vanity diminished in the following sentence. "Though that's not the point. The point _is_, young Eevee, something ya can't hope to grasp."

She glared daggers at the bat, then noticed something when there was no eye contact. "How do you know I'm an Eevee? You're—"

"Blind?" he finished correctly. He shook his head. "Nah, I ain't blind. Yes, I have no eyes. But you don't need your eyes to see, now do you?"

"_Yes_," she said forcefully, though it was really the only thing she could bring herself to say.

He shook his head. "We Zubat have a special way of seeing. Or, rather, anyone can learn it. Ya just can't be so dependent on your eyes." His expression lightened talking about it, nostalgic even. He scowled once he realized he was doing that. "You pest, that's not even the point."

"W-What is the point?!"

Zubat shook his head. "Ah ah ah. I told'ja it's something you can't understand. You're best of leavin' before I decide to do something cruel."

Twilight scrunched her face up. She had gotten beaten by a slug, chased the little bat down an entire floor, and fell about twenty feet to a cavern. All of this just to get Ponyta's Relic Fragment, whatever that was. She had come too far to just quit then and there.

_Let me at him!_ a voice in her mind said. It didn't take much for Twilight to figure out that this was an Eevee's instinct.

_Just hold on,_ she answered it. She shifted her focus back to Zubat

"Not without Ponyta's Relic Fragment!" she huffed, stomping a paw to the ground.

Zubat rushed up to Twilight's face, his scowl imprinting into Twilight's mind. "You think you're so tough? That you can actually beat me? You think you're a _hero_?!"

"_I JUST WANT THE RELIC FRAGMENT!_" she screamed.

Zubat opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Chikorita's voice from above. "Eevee! What's going on down there?!"

A sickishly large grin grew on the Zubat's face. Twilight's eyes widened, as she deduced the reason almost immediately. "Don't you hurt her!" she yelled.

"What's stopping me?" he asked simply.

"Eevee?!" Chikorita yelled.

To Tartarus with the Relic Fragment, her friend's life was more important. She turned her head up to her friend. "Chikorita, run!"

"But—"

"_RUN!_"

Chikorita hesitated, but she soon left, no longer in Twilight's line of sight. Or Zubat's.

He sneered. "She ain't important."

Twilight glared at him, though she didn't speak about that insult. Better to have him leaving Chikorita alone... but now _she_ was alone with him, and if the fight with the Shellos was anything to go by, any battle with him was almost certain to end in defeat.

So she tried reasoning instead. "All I want is the Relic Fragment. Whatever you're doing there," She motioned a paw in the direction of the little island. "is none of my concern."

The Zubat gave a sigh, as if fed up with this. "Kid, if you're even the tiniest bit smart, you'll know why I can't jus' _give_ it to ya."

She leaned over to get a view of the island. Again, she couldn't make out whatever that blue thing was, but it seemed like it'd be hard to reach. Twilight probably couldn't swim over, but...

"_Oh..._" she said, finally figuring it out. "Whatever's on the island is easy for you to get because you can fly over." She turned back to Zubat. "But what does this have to do with the Relic Fragment?"

For the first time since spotting him, he landed on the ground and crossed his wings together. "Flyin' over's the easy part. But that stupid _thing_ won't let me get it. I need somethin' valuable for it to open up to me."

Zubat took out something from a pouch that was apart of his body. It was... a rock? Closer inspection revealed that the rock had some weird insignia on it, like some old relic. The edges seemed jagged, as if it was a...

Her eyes widened. _Fragment... of a relic... Oh no,_ she thought. This had to have been the Relic Fragment.

Zubat clenched his wing that held the item and continued speaking. "But this thing's not workin', even when it should! I still can't get the thing even with this!"

Without warning, he flung the relic right at Twilight. It came too fast for her to even think about dodging, and it hit her square in the leg. She collapsed on the ground with an unearthly wail.

As Twilight was sprawled on the floor, Zubat simply stretched his wings some before taking flight once more. He flew over and knocked the Relic Fragment away, since, if he didn't, she would have gotten it easily if she just stopped to think.

"How's it feel?" he asked with a wicked grin plastered on his face.

Twilight panted as her other foreleg took ahold of the hurting one, putting pressure on it. She was too focused on that to even answer Zubat.

Apparently. Zubat wasn't going to take that. He bit her ear, causing her to flinch and scream. Shaking her head violently, she tried getting him off. It worked, as he was flown a foot away.

Twilight tried glaring at him, though she was in too much pain to make any face but a pained one.

Another cackle from Zubat. "Good! Got ya attention! I'll say again, _how's it feel_?"

Twilight put her working front paw on the ear that got bitten. When she retracted it, she was almost glad. _No blood,_ she thought. _Good, it didn't pierce the skin._

She saw Zubat preparing to strike again and gave a hasty answer. "It hurts!"

"Good," he hissed, flying back some. "Now listen here. Ya know I can't get the item from the island, so you're gettin' it for me."

She unconsciously gripped her hurt leg. "Why me?"

"'Cause I _know _why I can't get over there, and _you're_ the solution. Now get up."

Twilight tried standing up, but she fell with a shriek as soon as her pained leg joined in. Giving it another few seconds, she tried again, this time only using her two good legs and her limping one to stand. Glancing at the body of water, she spoke. "Even if I did agree to this, what makes you think I'm able to swim over?" She motioned to her hurt leg.

"I think you'll manage," he said simply. "Or won't. Point is, I need that item, and you're gonna get it."

Twilight gulped. Or won't? _Or won't?_! Did... did he mean what Twilight thought he'd meant?

Zubat flew behind Eevee and bit down on the skin under the white tuft of fur. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt, though Twilight figured it was a parallel to how cats held their kittens. And this made Twilight feel inferior.

He set her down on the floor, not rough to where her wounded leg would sting in pain, thank Celestia.

He set something down next to her. "Can't get it without this," he said.

She gasped. It was the Relic Fragment! Grabbing it in her mouth, she immediately thought of running off.

Looking back at the hole twenty feet above ground, there seemed to be no feasible way of getting up there, and Zubat would've probably given her some nasty wounds if she even attempted escaping. Then she turned to the body of water. With only two fully functional legs, it'd be impossible to get over to the small isle, and she'd probably drown.

She pursed her lips. No matter what option she picked, she was doomed for failure.

Zubat noticed her hesitance. "If ya don't want to, I can always just beat'cha to a pulp and get that little Chikorita to do this."

Hearing that threat against her friend made Twilight's jaw drop, the Relic Fragment landing on the ground. "No!" she pleaded. She set her head down and sighed in defeat. "I'll... I'll do it..."

"Heh heh, that's more like it." He bit her neck again and brought her to her feet. Her leg was feeling better, though trying to stand on it was better said than done. So she stood with her front wounded leg in the air, making it hard to move around. She grabbed the Relic Fragment in her mouth again and stumbled over to the water, Zubat watching her like a hawk.

With a gulp, she slowly put the paw from the harmed leg in the water. She flinched at first, but once she put it in again, it seemed... soothing. Purifying, even. She retracted her leg and gaped at it.

_It doesn't hurt anymore!_ she thought in amazement. _The water... If it can heal me, that means... _Twilight turned back to the Zubat, who seemed fed up with her hesitance. _I still have a fighting chance._

Turning back to the water, she tightened her jaws' grip on the relic, took a deep breathe, and dunk herself in entirely.

It was awe inspiring for Twilight, to feel each of her wounds gradually being healed. Her bruised front leg, her aching limped back leg, her stinging ear, even the minor cuts and bruises from the Shellos fight, they were all obliterating into nothingness until she felt completely vitalized.

Opening her eyes was easy, as it hardly felt like she was in water. It was, more or less, like floating. As if she didn't have a care in the world.

Then Twilight remembered to breathe. She hurried upward and brought her head above water, breathing heavily without dropping the relic. She turned around and saw she had only went a meter or two from the land.

"HURRY UP!" Zubat yelled out.

Twilight looked at Zubat, then at the island. She sighed, knowing what she would do next.

Taking in a huge breathe, she wented underwater once more.

One second...

Two seconds...

Three...

Four...

The water, while cleaner than any drop of water, obscured what was inside it. There was no way for Zubat to see which direction Twilight was going. And that was what would give her a winning edge.

Just as Zubat was going to say something, the Relic Fragment shot out of the water in front of him, hitting his chest with a sickening _crack!_. He fell to the ground groaning, the Relic Fragment a few inches away.

Twilight got out of the water and stood there, on the land, her determined expression overpowering. "I'm not doing any of your dirty work!" she proclaimed.

What used to be groaning was now a deep, raspy laugh. Before Twilight could say anything, she watched in shock at how fast Zubat swiped up the Relic Fragment.

"Didn'cha mother ever tell you not to throw things to others when the other's a thief?" he taunted, waving the relic in his wing. He put it in his body pouch and took flight.

Twilight refused to let him get away after all she went through. She rushed towards him and bounded in the air. Before Zubat could do anything, she bit him in the ear and refused to let go.

Zubat flapped his wings violently, trying his hardest to shake Twilight off. She held on even as she was being thrown like a limped doll, her jaws tightening even further.

"GET OFF!" he yelled in vain. He swiped at her with his wings, causing him to get dangerously close to falling on the ground multiple times.

"Mmuh wiffawt fhuh Mhrrlehk Ffwrahmuhnt!" she mumbled loudly. This, however, gave Zubat the chance to throw her off his ear. Twilight was flung halfway across the room, landing right smack in the wall. She slowly slumped to the ground, too hurt and shocked to cry out in pain.

Zubat landed to the ground, putting one wing to the bitten ear. When he saw there wasn't any blood, he smirked and flew over to Twilight. She tried batting him away, yet she couldn't. Her foreleg was too wounded, and she winced. Twilight just gave up on trying to get him away.

Zubat chuckled. "Pathetic. You can't even handle simply bein' thrown to the wall. Ya just too useless for me." He took out the Relic Fragment and observed it in his wings. "Ah well. I guess your little Chikorita friend will be of more help."

Twilight's eyes widened. "D-Don't..." she wheezed, unable to speak further.

He ignored her. Putting the Relic Fragment back in his body pouch, he flapped his wings and started flying. "Sayonara, weakling."

Just then, dozen upon dozens of projectiles rushed at Zubat, bringing him to the ground. What those projectiles were, Twilight didn't know, since her vision was starting to become blurry.

Twilight slowly turned her head to the direction the attack came. There were three figures standing there, though it was impossible to tell who they were. Colors started swirling about, mixing and mixing to the point where nothing was coherent. Anything and everything dark became brighter and brighter. So bright that it was like looking at the sun.

And then everything went dark.

* * *

**A/N: I haven't updated in a month, I know. But see, a few days after I posted the second chapter, my computer pretty much died on me. As of now, I still don't have it fixed. But I do have my 3DS, which is what I used to write this! It's actually easier to use my 3DS, since it gives the illusion that I'm writing a little at a time, when in reality I write a good chunk of a chapter each day at different times. 'Sides, with how my 3DS works, I can't get distracted by anything. Works out all right, except that I can't really update this without a computer. But I've got a public library and school, so it should work like this.**

**Okay, that excuse aside. As I've said, I didn't update for a month, so I gave you guys a huge chapter to compensate. Yet it ends with a cliffhanger, heh heh.**

**In the actual PMD games, Zubat and Koffing (don't worry, Koffing will appear later in the story, probably in the next few chapters) steal your partner's Relic Fragment and you have to track them down in Beach Cave, all before you even join the guild. Speaking of Beach Cave, that's more or less a tutorial dungeon where you just kind of test out battling. Boring, right? So I've taken the liberty of adding something special to that dungeon, which, if you know the tiniest bit about these games, should be easy to figure out.**

**As for Zubat and Koffing, they're usually portrayed as simple lackies trying to make a quick buck. They're really kind of overshadowed by their team leader, so it was fun for me to write Zubat as actually threatening, and I hope it was fun for you guys to read him as such.**

**So, this chapter brings a lot of questions. What does Zubat want with the 'item on the isle' (because spoilers prevent me from saying the name, obviously), and how could he even think about getting it when not even even more evil teams wouldn't hesitate to leave that kind of item be? How did Chikorita know about the collapsing bridge? Who were those three figures? What will happen to Twilight? Will any more of the Mane Six appear? Probably only one of these will be answered next chapter, but if you ask real nicely, I might give a few minor spoilers for later chapters.**

**Once again, sorry about the wait, but I assure you, I make no plans of stopping this. It's way too much fun to write. So stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Oh god this is such a long Author's Note...**


	4. Practice Battle! Twilight Versus Swellow

Twilight's eyes opened slowly, though nothing registered in her line of sight. It was as if she still had her eyes closed.

No, it must have just been a dark room. Her eyes started dilating in accordance to the dark, to where she could make out her surroundings. Standing up, she started turning her head around, taking in details of where she was. It didn't take much for her to realize she was back in the room she and Chikorita were staying at in the guild.

"This seems familiar," she whispered to herself, talking about how the room was dark.

She looked over to Chikorita's straw bed. Just as she suspected, her friend wasn't there.

"Too familiar."

Twilight, while she didn't want to repeat what happened last time, knew there was nothing else to do but go into the never-ending hallway. Unless...

If she just stayed in the room, the voices wouldn't get her. After all, this was a dream. She'd just have to wait it out, and then she'd wake up soon.

Question was, what was she to do besides wait around that didn't involve leaving the room? She noticed the window to the side of her. That actually piked some interest for her, as she wondered what she'd actually see in the window. Would she see a replica of the outside, or would being in a dream cause it to show something different?

Twilight stood up and started towards the window.

_I don't know about this..._ said the voice in her head from last time.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I've been wondering when you'd come back," she said, half sarcastically, half honestly.

_I'm serious. Anything could happen!_

"Anything could happen by looking out of a window in a dream, got it," Twilight answered her frightened self in an amused tone.

_Exactly! It's a dream! Don't you know what happens when you look in a mirror in a dream?!_

Of course she knew. She took a lesson unit on dreams in her second year as Princess Celestia's student for Starswirl's sake! To put it simply, when an individual is in a dream and they look in a mirror, their brain can't create a reflection image because it doesn't know how to show it. So the result would be a complete distortion of them.

She knew that Frantic!Twilight (which was what she decided to call her) knew that she knew, so she didn't bother explaining it. "This is a window, not a mirror," she pointed out.

_Same thing!_

"No, _it isn't_," she said as if the other was an idiot. Which was kind of harsh, considering it _was_ herself she was talking to.

The other Twilight sighed. _Just... be careful, alright? And don't be reckless._

She blinked. "I'm almost never reckless," she argued.

Silence.

Seeing that Frantic!Twilight was done with talking, actual Twilight sighed, and she started thinking about that last part.

_I'm never reckless... am I?_ she thought. But then why did she answer 'almost never'? Almost! If she was so sure she wasn't reckless, then why would she answer with 'almost'?

She shook her head. Now was not the time to think about that. Or, well, it was, since she essentially had all the time she needed in the dream. Ah, that wasn't important now. What was important was passing the time and looking through the window.

With a deep breathe, she closed her eyes and steadily walked towards the window. When she knew she was standing in front of it, she opened her eyes.

Flashes of images went by in the window as if it were a television screen, most of them too fast for Twilight to make sense of. The only colors that seemed to appear were black, white, red, and a few scenes with purple, which Twilight guessed were associated with her.

There was nothing in it that she could understand, and yet... the feeling of fear started to grow within her. She briefly wondered why that was happening, but it didn't take long for the fear to grow to where she couldn't think at all.

Twilight started panicking, her breathing short, harsh, and choppy. She squeezed her eyes shut, and yet the images still came.

_Getoutgetoutgetout GET OUT!_ a single thought rang in her head. Whether it was hers or Frantic!Twilight's or someone else's was something she didn't bother figuring out. She just heeded its advice and ran.

And ran...

And ran...

And ran...

To the point where she finally fell in exhaustion. Her body was, oddly, perfectly capable of running a lot more. It was her mind that needed the break, and it forced the body along with it.

As she lied there, her breathing started slowing, her panic diminishing until finally, she decided to open her eyes. And no sooner did she regret it.

She was in the hallway. _The hallway!_ Just like last time! If it really was like last time, then that'd mean...

_"Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle."_

Her eyes widened, pupils shrinking to mere pinpricks. "No no no no NO NO NO," she pleaded, bringing her body up just so she could push herself to the wall.

_"Twilight Sparkle Twilight Sparkle"_

"Leave me alone!" Twilight tried yelling, though it came out as a hoarse wheeze. She squeezed her eyes shut and put her forelegs around her head in a futile effort to make the voices stop.

They showed no signs of relenting, however. _"TWILIGHT SPARKLE TWILIGHT SPARKLE"_

Even with her eyes closed, she knew that the void of darkness was almost upon her.

**_"TWILIGHT SPARKLE TWILIGHT SPARKLE"_**

She gave a pitiful screech, and as the darkness swallowed her whole, she could have sworn someone else was screaming with her.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, is she waking up?"

"Looks that way!"

"Eevee..."

As soon as Twilight opened her eyes, the light washed in, giving her immense relief. Then she noticed three figures crowded in front of her: Sunflora, Chikorita, and Bidoof.

She sat up and shifted nervously in her straw bed. "Er, guys? Mind moving back a little?"

Mumbles of apologies were given as all three of them stepped away.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

Bidoof gave a nervous chuckle. "It's, um, only four AM."

She raised an eyebrow.

"...the next day," he finished.

She didn't get why he was so nervous about it until Sunflora explained. "Remember when you went inside Beach Cave? That was two days ago."

"Pardon?" she asked, not fully realizing what that meant.

Sunflora continued. "You two were in Beach Cave for the entirety of the day! When Bidoof and I came, it was midnight!"

Twilight blinked. If that was two days ago, then that'd mean... "I was asleep for over a day?"

"Yup yup," of course, Bidoof said.

She gave a slight nod. Of course she knew that sleeping for over a day wasn't helping any sleeping schedules, but her mind was on more important matters.

Twilight took a quick glance around her surroundings. Just as she thought, she was back in her room at the guild. But then... how? Didn't she fall unconscious in Beach Cave?

"What happened in Beach Cave?" she asked.

Both Sunflora and Bidoof were eager to tell her, but then they got into a small argument on who'd tell her first. Twilight just turned to Chikorita, her expression silently asking her to explain.

As it turned out, when Twilight had told Chikorita to run, the grass type actually ran to get help. When she was on the third floor, she ran into Sunflora and Bidoof, who told her that her team was taking so long in the dungeon that Bidoof decided to fetch Sunflora and look for them theirselves. The three of them had arrived in the cavern she was in just in time to see a vicious Zubat standing in front of a then-badly beaten Twilight, and no sooner did Sunflora launch a parade of Razor Leaves at the Zubat.

The three of them gave Zubat a run for his money and properlly pummeled him. Chikorita had brought Twilight out of the dungeon, Bidoof had gotten the Relic Fragment, and Sunflora would have gotten Zubat out and get him arrested, though, by that time, he was already gone.

As Chikorita (and by extension, the other two since they joined in on the explanation midway) finished, all three of them looked at Twilight expectantly, as if waiting for a response.

Now that Twilight had it explained to her, she couldn't have been happier. The three Pokemon in front of her all cared for her, it was evident in their actions. Just because two of them might not have been any of her Ponyville friends didn't mean they couldn't act like friends. Heck, it didn't even mean she couldn't be friends with them!

"You guys..." she started, noticing that her eyes were a little wet. "You guys are such good friends."

She reached over to the three and gave them a group hug, to which they happily accepted ans returned. "Thanks guys..."

"That's what friends are for!" Bidoof said.

Twilight smiled. _This would make a good friendship letter,_ she thought idly, which reminded her to find out if there was any paper and pens around. But that could wait until later. Right now, she remembered something important.

"Did Ponyta get her Relic Fragment back?" she asked once they were all done hugging.

Chikorita nodded. "Yes, she did. And she wants to see the two of us later today, since you're awake and all."

Twilight blinked. "But..." She turned to Bidoof and Sunflora. "why not you guys as well? I don't think we could have gotten the Relic Fragment if it weren't for you two. You should come with!"

"Nope nope!" Bidoof said happily, then started laughing at how too happy that was.

Sunflora smiled. "What do you think we did while you were asleep?"

"You mean..."

Chikorita answered this time. "Ponyta already thanked them, though she wants you to come before she thanks Team Harmony properly." She gasped. "Which reminds me..."

Chikorita turned to Bidoof, who got her a bag that hung with just one thin rope. She set it down in front of Twilight and searched around in it. "See, when we came back yesterday, Chatot and Guildmaster Wigglytuff finalized our team. We've got our own team bag, team badges, team berries..."

Chikorita took out a small white card from the bag, like a license of some sort. "As of now, we're an official team!" Her tone was giddier than usual. It was obvious this was something that she always wanted.

Chikorita tossed something, and it landed in Twilight's lap. "That's your team badge," she explained.

It didn't look like much. All it was was a white and blue oval with plastic wings on it. Simple, yet oddly unique. Or not. Twilight wasn't really a fashion whiz, after all.

Sunflora cleared her throat, directing everyone's attention to her. "It's super great knowing that you two are official now. I really hope you don't mind, but I'm going back to sleep." With that, she stretched and left the room.

"Back to sleep?" Twilight wondered aloud.

Bidoof beamed. "Yup yup! We all took shifts watching you so we made sure you were safe! Chikorita was the one up when she noticed you stir in your sleep, so she woke the two of us up! After waking up just for that, it's no wonder Sunflora's so tired," he explained. Then he put his front foot on his chin. "Which reminds me... I still haven't given you guys a tour of Treasure Town!"

Twilight smiled. Besides knowing of the existance of Spinda's Cafe, she knew nothing of the town. Why pass up a chance at knowledge?

Speaking of knowledge... "That sounds great Bidoof. How about you wait outside, and we'll be out in a second?"

"Sure thing!" He left the room.

"This early...?" Chikorita squeaked.

"Why not? Rolecall doesn't start for another two hours. Besides..." She slowly stood up from the bed, only mildly surprised that the only bad thing she had was an aching leg. She expected more severe injuries, actually. "I've been asleep for over a day. I can't just fall back asleep!"

The grass type smiled. "Alright. Let's go." She started towards the door, though stopped when Twilight put a paw on her shoulder.

"Not so fast buddy. I still have a few questions."

"B-But we don't want to keep Bidoof waiting!" Chikorita argued, her eyes glancing at the door multiple times.

Twilight gave a wry smile. "He's waited two days. He can wait another two minutes."

"B-Bu-B-B," she stammered, then gave a defeated sigh. "Alright... ask away."

Twilight stretched her neck to where her head was so close to Chikorita's, she could practically feel the panic being emitted. "The bridge," were the only two words Twilight said, since she was so sure Chikorita would get what she meant.

Chikorita took a step back and shifted her eyes around nervously, refusing to answer while looking at Twilight.

"_And_," Twilight pressed on, "When you followed me when I went to the guild's lower floor." She leaned her neck back in and her expression softened. "Please Chikorita. Just tell me. I need to know if either are important."

After a bit more stammering, Chikorita sighed. "Remember... that night, when you were having a nightmare?"

How could she forget? Twilight nodded. "Yeah, but when you woke me up, it look like you'd seen a ghost."

The grass type mumbled incoherently.

"I'm sorry, say that again?" She leaned in once more, this time to hear better.

"I saw something alright..." Chikorita murmured just loud enough to be heard. She lifted her head up and looked straight into Twilight's eyes. "And I didn't want it to be true."

"Chikorita..."

Chikorita continued. "And I-I wanted to prevent it. I did, b-but what if I _can't_ prevent it next time?" By now, she was visibly shaking. It was obvious to Twilight that this was something that emotionally hurt Chikorita to say.

So she didn't press on. Instead, she gave her friend a tight hug, which Chikorita hesitantly accepted. The grass type started calming down when in the hug, which made Twilight relieved. Once she was sure that Chikorita was calm, she let go and started towards the door.

"Come on Chikorita," she said with a smile. "We don't want to keep Bidoof waiting."

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_I've found out a good lot more of this place. For one, it's called Treasure Town, and I'm afraid it's much farther from Equestria than I thought. Don't ask me how I know, but it just seems that way, much to my dismay._

_There are areas called 'mystery dungeons' here, and they seem to have feral Pokemon there, which is... quite unnerving, since Pokemon in Treasure Town act like civilized beings. I suppose it's because of how they were raised? I'm not too sure. I'll look into that._

_It also seems that Pokemon fight using attacks with elemental variants called "types". As of now, I only know of four types: Normal, Grass, Water, and Fire, the latter three going in a type triangle to where Fire is strong against Grass, Grass is strong against Water, and Water is strong against Grass. It works both ways, as using a Fire type move against a Water type wouldn't do a lot of damage, etc., etc.. Normal type, I'm not sure what it's strong and weak to. I do know that, now that I'm an Eevee, I'm a Normal type, and I know the moves Tackle and Growl._

_I've come to learn that all Pokemon have an instinctual need to fight, and I've started to gain such instincts. It's nothing that I can't subdue easily; it's actually a really helpful asset, as I'll be able to survive here better with it, at least until I'm able to return to Equestria with my friends._

_Speaking of friends, I have two more things to say. The first is that I've found out that Rarity is here too! But... as with Fluttershy, she too has no memories of Ponyville and is instead called "Ponyta". The species of Ponyta looks remarkably like a normal white coated mare, except that the mane is on fire. No, wait, the mane _is_ fire, and it doesn't seem to harm a Ponyta. I'll be honest, I'm kind of jealous that Rarity basically became herself with a fire mane and no horn._

_The second thing is that, even here, I can learn about friendship! That means, along with these status reports, I can give friendship letters as well! Here's one that I've learned:_

_"Today I've learned that even the littlest of actions can turn a pony's day right around."_

_I'm still trying to find a way to return home, though who says I can't learn friendship along the way?_

_Your Faithful Student,_  
_Twilight Sparkle_

She memorized what she would write to the Princess, as well as the first letter for good measure, on the tour of Treasure Town. In hindsight, it might have been a bad idea to do it then, because she hardly focused on the actual tour. This led to Twilight constantly asking Bidoof to repeat himself, to which Bidoof happily obliged.

As they were nearing the market with two bipedial chameleons, one green, one purple, Chikorita spoke up. "Maybe we could visit some of the citizens instead?"

This baffled Twilight. It was only four AM. No one would be awake at this time.

This probably didn't pass through Bidoof's mind, as he answered with the same bright and chippy tone. "Sure! You guys know the ins and outs of town, and we still got an hour or so before we should head back!"

Twilight had been spacing out for an hour? Seemed like time just flew by. Eh, she could learn more about the businesses later. Meeting the citizens could very well benefit her, since maybe she'd see one that'd resemble either Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, or Applejack.

Bidoof put a little foot to his chin in contemplation. "Of course, not many of them are awake now..."

Twilight was glad he finally noticed, though his thoughtful gaze disappeared when he put his foreleg down. "But I know of some Pokemon that wake up really early!" He pointed to the previously mentioned stall that had two different colored chameleons. "Like those two! Their shop is open from midnight!"

Twilight noticed that Chikorita's eyes widened. "B-But don't they need their sleep?!" the Grass-type asked in shock.

"Yup yup!" he said, not answering as to why. All of a sudden, he gasped. "Oh! Wait! I know of a few who are awake at this time! Follow me!" He rushed westward.

"Excited, isn't he?" Twilight asked her friend.

Chikorita nodded. "Maybe he likes giving tours?"

Twilight shrugged, and the two of them started running after the little beaver. It wasn't really that far or hard, considering that most of the Pokemon were asleep and thus unable to become obstacles in their path.

When they reached Bidoof, Twilight saw that he was talking to two other Pokemon. One was a large, black feathered avian, closely related to a swallow. The other was just a bit smaller than Bidoof, and was a red caterpillar of sorts.

The two walked over to them, though, as she got closer and closer, Twilight kept slowing down until she stood there, jaw agape.

_Those eyes!_ she thought. _On both of them!_ The avian's eyes possessed a strong determination and stubborness that only one could have. The other's eyes were bright and cheery, as if it didn't have a care in the world besides giving joy to those around it.

Without realizing it, Twilight mumbled the two names so softly, Chikorita wouldn't even hear. "Rainbow... Pinkie..."

"Eevee?" Chikorita asked, concerned upon noticing she was farther ahead that her.

Twilight composed herself. "I-I'm fine."

It was then that Bidoof finally noticed the team, which made the bird and the bug look over as well. Bidoof waved. "Come on guys!"

As Twilight and her friend walked over, she couldn't help but feel unnerved at 'Rainbow''s completely determined vibe that was emitting from her.

The avian gave a playful smirked at Chikorita. "Hey Chikorita."

Chikorita gave a small smile. "Hi Swellow..."

Twilight couldn't help but smile as well. Just as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash knew each other prior to the Summer Sun Festival all those years ago, Chikorita and Swellow seemed to have known each other before Twilight arrived. It touched her heart. And yet, she still felt queasy in the presence of the two. Why?

_Calm down Twilight,_ she thought to herself. _I've dealt with Chiko– er, Fluttershy and Rarity as Pokemon._

_So why can't I deal with two?_

_Because you are in for twice the disappointment,_ her voice mentally answered, though it didn't feel like she was thinking it.

She didn't dwell on it any more, as a blur of red rushed up to her.

'Pinkie' gasped. "Ooh, who's this?! Who's this who's this who's this who's—"

A wing pushed the caterpillar away. "Calm down Wurmple," chuckled Swellow.

Twilight tried her hardest not to show her disappointment. If the two Pokemon were regarded as Swellow and Wurmple, odds were that they had no memories of their lives in Ponyville. Of course, there was one way to be sure.

"I'm Eevee, and we're," she motioned to herself and Chikorita. "Team Harmony."

Wurmple gave a loud gasp, which brought Twilight's hopes up tenfold.

"You're in a rescue team with Chikorita?!"

...aaand they were dashed twenty-fold.

Unable to bring herself to say anything, Twilight just nodded.

Bidoof spoke up. "Swellow and Wurmple are apart of a team called Team Tasty! They always wake up early to practice their skills, yup yup!"

Swellow put her head up high. "You know it!" She turned her head to the side, and everyone turned as well to see a large empty field just a dozen or so meters away, ending in a cliff just over the horizon. "We always get up early to get every bit of practice as possible out in the field."

Wurmple started jumping up and down, bringing everyone's attention to her. "And once we're done, I bake some desserts for us, and sometimes even the other Pokemon! Donuts for the Poochyena, cinnamon buns for Team Ebony, cupcakes for Bellsprout, apple fritters for Marill and Azurill, peppers for Camerupt..." she kept babbling about other desserts she baked, though everyone stopped paying attention by that point.

Swellow got up in Twilight's face with an inspecting look, causing her to step back a bit. "I haven't seen you around before. Where you from?"

"Er..." she stammered, not looking into the avian's eyes. What could she say? She certainly couldn't tell them she was from Equestria, since a lot of questions would arise, most of which she couldn't answer. And she couldn't say she lived here, all four of the Pokemon with her knew it wasn't true. She needed an answer that wouldn't spark any questions.

Twilight didn't have one, however, so she opted to change the topic. "That's not important. But I'd like to know how you two practice battling. I'm a novice at battling, you see, and—"

Wurmple, at that point, stopped babbling about food and gasped loudly. "Swellow! Swellow, let's help her train!"

Swellow seemed to be hesitant on such a subject change, but she resigned to it. She chuckled. "You want to battle, huh? Okay then. One on one, winner gets bragging rights."

"And the loser?" Twilight asked warily.

Swellow chuckled. "Loser's gotta battle with me."

Twilight gave a sly smile and raised an eyebrow. "So if you lose, you have battle yourself?"

The same smirk went on Swellow's face, and she leaned in closer to Twilight. "Who says I'll be the loser?"

Twilight chuckled. This reminded her of when she went to the human world, and she had to face Rainbow Dash in a soccer match, and, if she'd won. Rainbow would've helped her in her escapade. Of course, Twilight lost, but Rainbow had opted to help anyway because she showed initiative and determination. Twilight had a gut feeling that it would play somewhat the same in this event.

"Alright Swellow," she said. "You're on!"

Chikorita, who was silent most of the time, walked in between them and spoke. "But Eevee, you're—"

"I know, I know," she said dismissively. She might have suffered a brutal beat down from a simple Shellos, but that didn't mean Swellow had to know about it.

The five of them went over to the field, Twilight and Chikorita on one side, Swellow and Wurmple on the other, though both of the latters were standing on the sidelines. Bidoof, also in the sidelines but in the middle, stood on his hindlegs and raised both of his forelegs up. "One on one battle! Ready..."

Twilight nodded, her paw digging into the ground of that like a bull.

"Set..."

Swellow smirked, and she streched her wings a bit.

"GO!" He lowered his forelegs, and no sooner did Twilight take off.

She rushed toward the avian, the wind batting in her face. Her paws were gaining a darker brown hue from the mud and dirt. She was filled with adrenaline, her widened eyes and borderline crazy smile showcasing it perfectly. So much adrenaline, she didn't even notice that Swellow was just standing her, watching her calmly, without any bit of worry.

Three yards separated them. Then two. Then one, and... Twilight jumped towards Swellow, giving herself an extra push to execute her Tackle attack. She could see the brown and red feathers, the sharp yellow beak, and soon the one bearing the attributes would take dama—

Her eyes widened, and Twilight landed on the ground with a _thud!_. She got up and turned around, looking every which-way.

Twilight didn't even bother noticing all the mud over her fur. What she really wanted to know was _how the hay someone could disappear like that_. One moment Swellow was in her line of sight, the next she just... _vanished_.

Panting like a mad man, she kept looking around. To the sidelines, to the town, even under her. It was only when she heard some chuckling that she looked up. Sure enough, Swellow was flying listlessly in the air, her chuckling evolving into full blown laughter.

"Whoa man, you're _way_ too predictable," she mocked.

Twilight snarled, though it wasn't all that menacing. "Get down here!"

"Uh, no?" She cracked her wings. "Let me show you how it's done."

Swellow flapped up higher in the air, completely milking the scenery in such a showy manner. Once she way high up, she dove down, dashing side to side.

Twilight tried running to each side in an effort to avoid the bird's maneuver. Once she realized she wasn't going to dodge it, she stood her ground, awaiting the attack to come. Or she would have, if she didn't plan on dashing forward at the last second. A small smirk grew on her lips as Swellow was getting nearer and nearer.

With meticulous timing, she ran forward just as Swellow swooped in. Her moment of bliss was cut short by a sharp pain in her back. She gave a meek scream and fell face first in the ground.

Twilight was just barely able turn her head, and she saw Swellow standing there, standing pridefully up straight.

"Ca-caw," Swellow gave a triumphant zinger.

As the two of them were closer to Chikorita than to Wurmple, it was easy to hear what Chikorita was saying. "But how..." the Grass-type started.

Swellow lifted a wing, as if that were the answer. "Aerial Ace. Can't leave home without it."

Twilight's back stung with pain, though she tried her hardest to get up. After about a minute, she succeed it, and gave a wavering smile. "Is that... all you've got?"

Swellow didn't say anything. She just flew behind her and tapped her back. Twilight winced and collapsed on the ground once again.

"Eevee is unable to battle!" Bidoof announced. "Swellow wins!"

Wurmple jumped up high, confetti and balloons coming from behind her for some unfathomable reason. "YAAAY! GO SWELLOW!"

Swellow paid the two no mind. "Yeesh," she said, flying back in front of Twilight. "I'd at least think you'd be tougher than Chikorita." She turned to the Pokemon in question. "No offense."

"None taken..." Chikorita mumbled, and her gaze went to the ground.

Swellow put her head down closee to Twilight. "You did okay, but..."

Twilight lifted her head slightly, so she made eye contact with Swellow. _Here comes a speech about determination,_ she thought.

"...but you _really_ shouldn't push yourself," Swellow finished, then raised her head. "Okay then, loser of the battle, you'll be training with me the next seven days, five o'clock sharp."

Words could not fully express Twilight's bewildered expression. "What? B-But what about determination and-and not giving up?!"

Swellow gave a quizzical look. "This isn't some game, you know."

Wurmple's voice could be heard from the other side. "It is in this case!"

Swellow rolled her eyes. "Practice battles are _practices_. Y'know, to prepare you for actual battles. You can always get really _really _messed up if you take a real one too far."

By that point, the other three had come over. "It was still a good effort," said Chikorita, giving her condolences.

"Not good enough," Twilight mumbled, trying to get up.

"Hey, don't sweat it," said Swellow, giving Twilight a light noogie, which brought her to the ground. Swellow awkwardly chuckled, giving a quick apologetic look and putting her wing behind her neck.

Bidoof nodded. "It was pretty fun to watch!" He gasped. "Aw jeez, we got to go back to the guild now."

Swellow smiled. "Don't you guys want to wait and eat some desserts Wurmple's about to make?"

Wurmple shimmied up on Swellow's head. "She's right! Just give me two willy nilly jack-diddly minutes!" With that, she went behind Swellow's head and... disappeared. The avian's expression made it clear that no questions should have been asked regarding it.

"Shucks..." said Bidoof. "I guess we can wait a few more minutes!"

Twilight tried standing again, and after a few long, agonizing seconds was she able to. Her back still hurt, but now it was more like a dull throb. Composing herself, she spoke to Swellow. "So... seven days?"

Swellow nodded, then gave a lighthearted chuckle. "Don't you worry. You're being trained by the best of the best! By the time this week's over, you'll be... Hmm... _half_ as awesome as me!"

Twilight gave a dry chuckle. "I suppose it'll be good to get some practice. Wouldn't want to end up knocked out for over a day again."

Swellow crossed her wings and smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Again?" she asked, a bit of playfulness in her tone.

Before Twilight could explain, Wurmple, thankfully, reappeared from behind Swellow's head, holding a pan covered in tinfoil. "SURPRISE!" she yelled, confetti sprouting from her once again.

"That wasn't two minutes..." Chikorita pointed out.

Wurmple rolled her eyes. "Of course not! I mean hel-_o_! Will nilly jack diddly minutes are totally shorter than normal minutes!" She handed the pan to Twilight, who held it using her mouth. Fortunately, it wasn't heavy.

"Oh my, what flavor is it?" asked Chikorita.

"Pina colada laced with peaches!" she said.

There was a moment of silence, and then Wurmple laughed. "I'm kidding!" She produced an identical pan from behind Swellow's head. "Swellow and I have the pina colada and peaches brownies! You three just have regular boring fudge ones."

"Lucky us," Swellow deadpanned.

"Thanks a bunch!" Bidoof thanked. He turned to the other two. "We better get back to the guild. I don't want Loudred or Chatot or..." He gulped. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff getting mad!"

Twilight didn't ask what was so scary about Wigglytuff being mad. Probably because she had a pan of brownies held in her mouth.

Chikorita gave a small nod. "I guess we should be going. Bye Swellow, bye Wurmple. Thank you for the brownies!"

"See you later." "Bye!"

"Mffhy! Ffhammgs mfrur muh mmrhahmees!" Twilight mumbled, though she was sure that the duo knew what she meant.

They waved goodbye once more, and Team Harmony and Bidoof headed back to the guild, and yet, all the while, Twilight couldn't help but wonder... Could she really get better at battling? Or would she get 'really _really_ messed up' from it...?

* * *

_The night before..._

The howling winds battered against the wobbling trees, attempting to have them fall. The trees were resilient, however. They would not fall, no matter how much the wind pushed and pushed and pushed. Each time the wind tried, the tree would stand its ground. Each time the tree stood its ground, it would get sturdier and sturdier. As they say: Misery builds character.

This is what the bird... no, the flying mammalian thought, connecting the circumstances revolving around him to the trees. As he flew too and fro, he soon landed on a tree. A _very_ familiar tree.

He looked up at the sky and swore under his breathe. The clouds were still obscuring the moon. He needed the moon's light for him to advance farther.

So he decided to rest on the tree for just a minute, and he started to dwell on what happened just a few hours prior.

_I almost had it,_ he thought. _If it weren't for those pesky rescue members, I would'a gotten that..._

He composed himself. Now was not the time to dwell on 'if's. He didn't get what he was trying for, that was what happened. There wasn't any use thinking about possibilities that couldn't and didn't happen. But, as he thought about what happened _afterwards_, he couldn't help but laugh.

_Those morons,_ he thought. _Just leavin' me there, without even sending those outlaw police force afta' me._

Then he snarled. How dare those nosy brats not call the police on him, ones he would probably evade anyway? They must have thought he was too harmless to be a real outlaw. A bunch of idiots, they were. How could someone that completely thrashed an Eevee be _harmless_.

His mind went to the Pokemon in question. He had pummeled that brat to near submission. Throwing the Relic Fragment at her leg (and he could have sworn he heard a _crack!_), almost tearing off her ear... But when she came out of the water, she looked as if she had never been hurt at all.

The flying mammal blinked. Of course... Of course! It made so much sense! He was so stupid as to not figure it out in the first place! The water had some sort of property, or something, that could heal a Pokemon.

As the moonlight finally shone out, revealing a pale yellow door in the tree bark, a wry smile grew on his eyeless face. This would be something he had to tell his supplier.

* * *

**A/N: So we've finally got Rainbow and Pinkie here! In the form of Team Tasty, who, in the games, are both males, but... Eh, creative liberties and such.**

**In the actual games, you don't get the tour of Treasure Town until the day after you retrieve Spoink's pearl from the second dungeon (which I don't remember the name of at all). Though, I seriously doubt that Team Harmony's going to do that mission. They already had to retrieve Ponyta's Relic Fragment. Maybe Team Tasty will get the pearl; they are a rescue team after all!**

**So Twilight got a tour of Treasure Town, though she didn't pay attention to it. She'll get an official one in the next chapter, one that also benefits the viewers.**

**Twilight's also going to be training with Swellow for the next week. By the end of that, she'll be strong enough to hold her own in a battle, and that'd make battles longer! Yay! But this also means that Marowak's Dojo is made completely useless, so... yeah, stuff.**

**Anyway, I had fun writing the stinger at the end. It should be obvious whose perspective it's in. Speaking of that, once I get all the Mane Six introduced and accustomed (oh come on, it's obvious Applejack's going to be in this too), there'll be some chapters where one of the other five will get some perspective time. Twilight can't hold that chalice forever, now can she?**

**So, this chapter leaves a lot of questions. Who will Applejack be? Who's this 'supplier' that's mentioned? Only the Appleack one will be revealed in a chapter or two. We've still got a way to go before getting to the identity of the supplier!**

**What else, what else... I like reviews, so mind giving some? I'd very much appreciate criticism. And, if you ask nicely, I might give a little spoilers. Oh, and cover image. I still need one.**

**Another thing. One of my goals is to have a fan fiction of mine featured on TVTropes. If anyone has the time, would you terribly mind and mention mine on the My Little Pony crossovers and/or the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon crossovers? That'd be great. And it having its own page would be even greater!**

**Think that's it. Alright then, see you next chapter!**


	5. Mission: Save Azurill Part One

"...and this is the board for the simple jobs!" Bidoof said.

"Hey hey, aren't I the one supposed to tell them this?" Corphish pouted, crossing his claws together.

The two made eye contact, and they kept up their conversation through silent means. Twilight, who was also with Chikorita, grew antsy. She just wanted to know how to execute the rescue jobs, and it seemed that it started from the boards on the floor below surface. Still, 'the board for the simpler jobs' didn't quite cut it. She needed to know more.

"Bidoof, Corphish?" she asked, waving a paw in front of their faces.

That seemed to snap them out of it. Both Pokemon composed themselves, and Corphish took over the tutorial. "So this board right here..." He motioned a claw to the bulletin board behind him. "That's the one where you take normal job requests, like rescuing someone, getting an item for them... yeah, that stuff. Basically, all you got to do is just take the mission you want to accomplish from the board, like so..."

Corphish turned to the bulletin board and took a random one, though his sharp claws ripped it in half like... paper. He grinned sheepishly, giving an awkward chuckle.

Twilight took the piece from Corphish's claws and the other piece from the board, holding the two together with a little help from Chikorita. Once they read it, Twilight spoke. "Seems like 'Spoink' won't be getting back their pearl."

"Poor thing," Chikorita remarked, and Twilight nodded in agreement.

"Golly, I'll take that!" Bidoof said as he took the two halves for himself. "Can't let a mission go to waste, yup yup!"

Twilight smiled. "That's nice. You were saying, Corphish?" She wanted to get the tour over with so she could go see Ponyta and see how she was doing. The Fire-type should have been in the cafe by this time. Then again, it _was_ only seven AM.

"Oh, right!" he said. "You got the idea for this board and all, now the other one!"

The four of them walked to the other side of the room, where another bulletin board was, pretty much identical to the first one.

"This is the Outlaw board," Corphish explained. "It's where teams can try and track down any outlaws in the dungeons they were last seen!"

From the amount of sheets of paper on the board, there seemed to have been many upon many outlaws, which surprised Twilight. Equestria hardly had any citizens that broke the laws and norms, besides the rare villain trying to taking over Equestria. It was just... unfathomable to see so many Pokemon that would commit crimes to the point where they'd be dubbed as outlaws.

_Their instincts,_ she thought. _Some must have an instinctual need to commit these... these crimes!_ That seemed like the most likely answer.

Seeing Chikorita quaking in fear, Twilight got out of her thoughts and spoke up. "Doesn't that seem kind of... dangerous, to be chasing after outlaws?"

"Yup yup!" Bidoof said.

Corphish expanded on that. "That's why only the tougher rescue teams try this, hey hey! But a lot of these outlaws on this board aren't as dangerous as you'd think."

Twilight was relieved when she saw Chikorita calm down at that.

Bidoof took over, and took a random sheet from the board. "Why don'tcha try this one today?" He skimmed the contents, then frowned. "Uh... On second thought, maybe arresting the 'Toxicroak Gang' is a bit too hard..." He put it back on the board, stepping a pace away.

Corphish rolled his eyes, then turned to Team Harmony. "You should just wait till later on today, so that Dugtrio changes the board. Might have something easier, hey hey!"

"So, that's it?" Twilight asked.

"Yup yup!" Bidoof said.

"I think. What else is there..." he wondered aloud, then snapped his claws together. "Right! You guys still need a tour of Treasure Town!"

Team Harmony glanced at Bidoof, whose expression revealed that he hadn't told Corphish about it yet.

Twilight saw Chikorita fidgeting slightly, guessing it was because she didn't want another tour, but was too polite to say anything about it. Twilight didn't want her friend to do something she didn't want to do, so she started talking. "I don't know much about Treasure Town, but Chikorita already does."

"Hmm..." hummed Corphish.

Twilight was glad that he was catching on to what she—

"Good idea! Chikorita can give you the tour!"

She could have slapped him, but Corphish had already walked off. Twilight turned to her frowning friend. "I tried," she shrugged.

"I know..."

Bidoof gave a small smile. "Ah well. At least this way, you can actually pay attention to the tour, yup yup!" With that, he too walked off.

Chikorita's gaze fell to the ground. "Bidoof's right..."

"That I didn't pay attention last time?" Twilight asked half-jokingly. Seeing Chikorita nod, Twilight's smile faded, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "Uhm... Sorry about not paying attention to the first tour a few hours back. I was just... thinking..."

The Grass-type gave a small smile, and she raised her head slightly.

"It's fine," she said, a sad tone seemingly permanent in her voice.

Twilight didn't want to see her friend sad. "Cheer up," she said. "Maybe we can go see Swellow and Wurmple?"

"But... we saw them only a few hours ago.

Twilight gave a half hearted shrug. The Grass type seemed to have accepted that, as she led the way outside.

* * *

Now that Twilight was actually paying attention to the tour, it was fascinating! The town, despite it being relatively small, especially in comparison to places like Ponyville, was so functional, so organized that even a creature of little intelligence could find their way.

There was a bank run by a ghostly Pokemon with a flat skull for a face (Duskull, she learned), a dojo run by a bipedal mammal with an outer skull (Marowak), and some kind of shop run by a big fluffy yellow Pokemon that had something thing to do with moves (Electrivire). There seemed to have been another shop, but it wasn't open yet.

As they kept going, she saw the mart run by the two chameleons (Kecleon), as well as a storage run by a big kangaroo (Kangaskhan). There was another shack, though Twilight was told that the store owner took a vacation.

The best thing about it was that Chikorita was enjoying herself. She seemed much more upbeat when she was explaining the shops of the town. Seeing that made Twilight smile.

After being taught about all of the stores, Chikorita suggested for Twilight to get acquainted with the other citizens. Though she accepted, a question loomed in her mind.

"Say, Chikorita..." Twilight started.

"Hmm?"

"There are so many Pokemon outside," she said, turning her head to the pairs and teams of Pokemon outside. "and yet, I haven't seen any houses heeeeAAAAHH!"

Something knocked her face first into the ground, a dust cloud forming once she landed. Whatever knocked her down was now jumping up and down on her limped and pained body.

"I can answer that I can answer that I can answer that!" rambled a very familiar and very hyper voice.

Twilight turned her head to see Wurmple, a big grin on the bug's face. Except... "...Why are there pi of you?" she mumbled, seeing multiple Wurmple in her dazed state.

"Because I'm never ending, silly!"

Twilight's head fell down in response.

"Alright Wurmple, that's enough," said Swellow as she flew in.

Wurmple stopped jumping and pouted. "But I want to tell her the reason there aren't any houses."

Swellow rolled her eyes. "She could just ask someone else. Don't need you jumping over her to tell her."

As if to prove Swellow's point, Wurmple started jumping again, this time on Twilight's face down head, causing her to be smothered in dirt. "BUT IT WON'T BE SUPER SPECIAL UNLESS I TEEEELL HEEER!" whined Wurmple.

Swellow put her wings to her head, and Chikorita put her head leaf over her face, both of them wincing. Swellow had to shout over her. "ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT!"

"Okey dokey lokey!" Wurmple immediately stopped whining and smiled brightly, jumping to the ground. Twilight raised her head, coughing up dirt.

"Sheesh..." muttered Swellow. Thankfully, the four of them were just far enough away so that none of the citizens noticed Wurmple's incessant whining.

There was a moment of silence.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Wurmple asked ignorantly.

"Aren't you going to tell her?" Swellow said, trying to instigate the explanation.

Wurmple cocked her head to the side. "Tell her what?"

Swellow slapped a wing to her face. "Wurmple..." she muttered in annoyance.

"That's my name!" Wurmple smiled.

Twilight stood up, her legs swaying left to right, refusing to stay still. "Let's... change the subject..."

"Oh hey!" said Wurmple, suddenly appearing from behind Twilight's head.

Twilight's eyes widened at the sight of her, and she glanced from the spot the bug was at before to where she was now, and then back at the first spot. Though it was to be expected by not-Pinkie, she was still surprised. "How did you—"

"Did'ja like the brownies I made you? Did'ja did'ja did'ja did'ja?" Wurmple interrupted, jumping on Twilight's head once more, causing her to fall to the ground _again_.

"Can you PLEASE stop?!" Twilight begged, though she was greeted with a mouth-full of dirt.

"Umm, Wurmple?" Chikorita asked softly.

That made the bug stop jumping for a moment. "Ye-es?"

"Could you please not jump on my friend...?"

Wurmple grinned. "Sure thing!" With that, she got off of Twilight's head.

After coughing up some more dirt, Twilight stood up again, though, thankfully, it was easier than before. Her legs weren't swaying... as much.

Swellow gave a bemused chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "You okay, man? You look like you're about to fall over."

Twilight's feet tangled together a bit, though she ultimately stayed up. "Ah, I-I'm fine. Just peachy," she said, the last bit added a dose of sarcasm to it.

"Yeeeaaaah..." Swellow droned, her tone unconvinced. She changed the subject. "So, about that question of yours."

"Question?"

"About where the citizens live?" Swellow reminded her.

"Oh, that." In truth, she had completely forgotten about that. That was probably due to the fact that her main priority over the last few minutes was to _not get crushed to oblivion by Wurmple_. "Yes, uh, mind answering that for me?"

Swellow shrugged. "Sure. It's simple. There are neighborhoods a bit of distance away from here where everyone lives. Here, it's more like a part of a place that's pretty much all business. That make any sense?"

Twilight nodded.

"Good, 'cause I'm not too sure about that." Swellow rubbed the back of her neck. "Wurmple and I live just around Sharpedo's Bluff, so we're still in town," she said, pointing a wing to the direction of the ocean.

Twilight noticed Chikorita's legs shifted a bit, though she paid no more attention to it, as Swellow kept talking.

"Here, let me see if there're any Pokemon that don't live here to make sure of this." It only took two second of searching before Swellow's beak curled into a smile. "There we go!"

Twilight followed the avian's line of sight and saw two blue creatures in front of the Kecleon Shop. Both were round, though one of them was half the size of the other, and it sat on it's tail, the end of which was as big as it.

"Oh oh! Those are the Marill siblings!" Wurmple piped up, somehow appearing on top of Swellow's head.

"Yeah, it is." Swellow turned to Team Harmony. "Wait here a minute, would you guys?" With that, she flew towards the two blue Pokemon, bringing Wurmple with. Though they were moderately far away, Twilight could see that the pairs were talking with each other. It soon grew evident that they weren't asking them to go where Twilight was, as the four of them kept talking for a good five minutes.

Seeing as there wouldn't be anything new happening with that, Twilight turned to Chikorita, who was fidgeting about. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight asked, "Is something the matter?"

Chikorita's eyes widened for a second. She was completely off guard by that question. Composing herself (but not fully), she answered. "No, it's nothing..."

Before Twilight could pry into it any more, Swellow and Wurmple came back. "Okay," said Swellow. "Come with us."

It didn't take that long to walk to the Kecleon Shop, though Twilight noted that Swellow's walking seemed choppy. She deduced that it was probably because the avian wasn't used to not flying, which made Twilight crack a smile.

The two blue Pokemon were talking to the Kecleon by now, the bigger blue Pokemon holding an apple. The smaller one was the first to notice that Twilight and the others were there. "Oh! Marill, they're back! With friends!" said a chipper yet distinct little boy voice.

What surprised Twilight was what the Pokemon named Marill said next once it turned to face them.

"Howdy Team Tasty an' friends!"

Twilight tried her hardest not to let her shocked expression show. _It can't be..._ she thought, then dismissed that just as quickly. Of course it could be, the last of her friends she needed to find was right in front of her. If the southern accent wasn't proof enough, the eyes were a dead giveaway. It possessed the iron will and stubborness of Applejack.

This was it. The last of her friends. If Applejack didn't have any memories of her Ponyville life, then Twilight would know that she herself would be the only one aware of the situation. So she tried what she did with Ponyta, Swellow, and Wurmple.

"We're Team Harmony," she greeted, motioning to herself and Chikorita.

_Come on Applejack,_ she thought. _Please let me know that I'm not alone in this. Please._

"Nice ta meet'cha!" Marill beamed.

Her distinct disappointment was starting to show on her layered face, which she hastily tried to mask.

Unfortunately, Marill caught on to it and gave a pointed look. "Anything wrong, Miss...?"

"Eevee," she answered with an insincere smile. "And this is Chikorita." She pointed to the Grass type, who shrank back at the attention. In an effort to change the subject, Twilight continued. "So I'm assuming Swellow and Wurmple asked you about citizens that live away from here?"

Marill squinted her eyes, as if catching on to Twilight trying to weasel out of answering her. Much to Twilight's relief, the younger sibling (Twilight wasn't sure if the younger one obviously not being Applebloom was good or not) answered onto the new subject. "They did! We're from Rivergush! It's... umm..." The little one looked up at Marill, giving a quizzical expression. "How far away is it from Treasure Town?"

Marill shrugged. "'Bout a mile? I dunno, Azurill." Marill turned back to the group. "We come out here every other day ta get some apples fer our Ma."

Twilight felt the corner of her lips tug downward. Applejack... had a mother here? An actual mother? The closest thing she had for a parent back in Ponyville was her Granny Smith, and she didn't have a lot more years ahead of her.

One of the Kecleon brothers, the green one, spoke. "There are lots of towns nearby. The Marill siblings are one of our regulars!"

"Speaking of which..." Purple Kecleon started, turning around and shuffling through inventory. Once finished, he turned back around holding two more apples. "For being such good regulars, here's an apple for each of you as well, no charge."

Azurill's eyes widened. "But... These are for free?"

"Certainly!" Green Kecleon smiled.

"T-Thanks a bunch!"

Both Marill and Azurill took one, with Marill also holding the bought one. Seeing Azurill fumbling with holding his, Marill took a step towards him. "Need any help?"

"No... I go— Gah!" he shouted, dropping the apple.

It bounced a few times before landing in front of Chikorita. The Grass type blinked, staring at the red food item. Using her head leaf, she scooped it up. Twilight could have sworn she faltered, but Chikorita seemed fine, and she returned the apple to Azurill, who held it using his mouth.

"Thank you ma'am!" Azurill said, using the corner of his lips to speak. He turned to the elder sibling. "Can we go Marill?"

"Sure thing," she said, her voice slightly muffled by the two apples held in front of her. Before leaving, Marill turned to Twilight and Chikorita. "Team Harmony, right?"

Both nodded.

Marill chuckled. "Like Ah' said, good ta meet'cha. Ah' can see why Swellow 'n' Wurmple are friends with ya." She looked over to Team Tasty. "Ah'll see ya later."

All four gave waves of goodbye to the siblings until Green Kecleon cleared his throat, shifting everyone's attention to him.

"Want to buy something?" he asked, an expectant grin plastered on his face.

Chikorita gave a meek shrug and glanced at Twilight. "I didn't bring our team bag. It had our start up money in it."

"Ooh ooh!" Wurmple shouted, waving one of her stubby legs in the air. She rushed to the front, which, unfortunately, was where Twilight was at. For the third time that day, Twilight was trampled to the ground by Wurmple.

"I'll take three Max Elixirs, five Big Apples, and— Oh! OH! I got to have that X-Ray Specs!" Wurmple rambled on, ignoring Twilight's feebles pleas for help that went unanswered.

Swellow craned her neck over to see the selection of items. "Aw yeah, you even got some X-eye Seeds."

"Last in stock!" said Green Kecleon eagerly. "Want it?"

"Yeah!" Swellow chirped. She looked down to Wurmple. "You brought our money with you, right Wurm'?"

On cue, Wurmple produced a beige hand bag from who-knows-where. "Yuppers!" she said, and shuffled through the bag until she took out a plastic box with the words '10k Poke' written on it. Inside, it was filled to the brim by yellow coins.

Swellow took hold of the box. "That's enough, right?"

"M-More than enough!" both Kecleon brothers said in unison.

As Green Kecleon took the money and started putting the selected items in a plastic bag, Twilight was having trouble breathing. Not to say that she was suffocating, no. As long as she stayed calm and still, she could get a sufficient amount of oxygen. However, every time she inhaled, a bit of dirt would come with it, making Twilight's nose tingle.

That still didn't mean her predicament was favorable. She was still being crushed by Wurmple for the third time that day.

Green Kecleon finished getting the items, and he gave the full plastic bag to Swellow. The avian nodded in thanks and turned her head to Wurmple. "You want to get going?"

"Yeah!" Wurmple _finally_ got off of Twilight, hopefully for the last time, and got on Swellow's head. "Hi ho Silver, AWAY!" she yelled in an over-the-top manner, then burst into laughter afterwards. Swellow joined in on it.

"That's Wurmple for ya!" Swellow abruptly stopped laughing. "Hey..."

Wurmple blinked, stopping her laughter as well. "Huh?"

Twilight stood up with ease, which surprised her. "What is it?" she asked.

"There." Swellow pointed her wing that wasn't holding the bag in the direction Marill and her brother went. It was hard to make out, but Twiight and the others saw Marill and Azurill talking to a yellow and brown biped around double their height.

"I've never seen a Drowzee around here," said Chikorita.

"Neither have I." Swellow turned to the Kecleon brothers. "Kecleons, have you seen that guy around before?"

"Can't say I have." "I don't think so."

Swellow grunted, then turned to Team Harmony. "You guys want to go check this out?"

"Of c...," Twilight stated, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat and repeated it. "Of course."

Chikorita merely nodded.

"Then climb on or run fast, 'cause I ain't stopping!" Not even a second after saying that, Swellow shot through the air. Twilight and Chikorita couldn't hope to follow at the same pace, even when they ran at full speed. By the time Swellow and Wurmple got to Marill, Azurill, and this 'Drowzee', Team Harmony wasn't even halfway there.

The duo stopped running, both of them catching their breathes. Twilight looked over to Chikorita. "Should we... stop running?" she panted.

Chikorita, seeming to be too tired for words, simply nodded.

Even though Twilight wanted to make sure Marill would be alright, neither she nor Chikorita could run anymore. So they opted to walk instead. By the time they reached the five Pokemon, it looked as if they were all fixing to leave.

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

Azurill smiled. "Mister Drowzee's going to help find our missing item!"

Twilight blinked. "Missing item?"

A nod came from Marill. "Yep. It's our Ma's, actually. Drowzee here, as a Psychic type, says he's knows where it's at." She glanced over to this Drowzee, who, at a closer glance, was a bipedial yellow and brown elephant.

Drowzee, in turn, nodded. "Yes, it's in a dungeon not too far from here."

Twilight gave a small nod. Her mind was focused on other matters. _So Drowzee's a Psychic type..._ she thought. _How many other types are there?_

"Heeeeey," Wurmple said, squinting her eyes. This snapped Twilight back to reality. "Where are your guys's apples?"

"Huh. I didn't notice it when we were talking, but yeah, where are they?" Swellow agreed.

Drowzee patted a handbag that was on his side. "They looked like they were struggling with it, so I offered to put the three apples in my bag." The two Marill siblings nodded in confirmation.

Wurmple smiled, looking pleased. "Okie dokie!"

"What dungeon did you three say you were going to again?" Chikorita questioned.

Azurill gave a toothy smile. "It's called...! Uh... uh... Hmm. Hey Mister Drowzee, what was it called again?"

Drowzee put a finger under his lips and looked up, thinking. "Let's see... I think it was called Mount Bristle."

Swellow chuckled. "I know that place. Wurmple and I train there sometimes."

Drowzee turned to Marill and Azurill. "You kids ready?"

"Yeah!" cheered Azurill. Marill only nodded.

The Psychic type gave a warm smile. "Great. Then you two go wait at the edge of town while I go get some supplies." He turned and started towards the direction of the Kecleon shop, though he accidentally bumped into Chikorita. "Whoops. Sorry ma'am."

Twilight, again, couldn't tell if Chikorita gave a response. Her focus was shifted on the Marill siblings, who seemed about ready to leave.

"Azurill," said Marill to her younger sibling. "How 'bout ya go wait at the edge of town? Ah'll be with ya in a sec'."

Azurill gave a big nod and went east, ultimately leaving from everyone's sight.

Swellow's face immediately went into a scowl. "How can you trust that stranger, Marill?"

Marill only folded her small arms together, as if challenging Swellow to speak further.

She did. "I'm just saying," Swellow continued, defending her viewpoint. "You're the last Pokemon I'd expect to trust a stranger like that."

"Ah don't," Marill said simply.

The avian blinked, her scowl gone. "Oh."

"Ah'm more worried 'bout Azurill," she continued. "But as long as Ah'm with 'em, Ah can protect my lil' brother in case somethin' happens."

Wurmple giggled. "But all Psychic types are good! Haven't you seens those newspaper articles about Team A.C.T.?"

"That's only the leader, dear," said a voice. Everyone turned to see the familiar Ponyta.

Twilight smiled. "Good morning Ponyta." Finally, all six of them were together. Twilight should have been happy. But...

_Of course I can't be happy,_ Twilight thought. _They aren't themselves._

_What qualifies as themselves?_ she mentally asked herself immediately afterwards. Twilight didn't have an answer.

"Good morning to you as well, Eevee," Ponyta greeted, then turned her attention to Wurmple. "Not all Psychic types are good. Why, I've heard of a pair of Meditite that were arrested just a week ago."

"Heh, yeah," chuckled Swellow. "I heard about that."

Marill, ignoring Swellow's comment, glared at Ponyta. "This ain't helpin' my worries."

Ponyta blinked. "Oh. I'm sorry, I came in when Wurmple was talking about all Psychic types being good. I didn't know it was in relation to...?"

She scoffed. "No one asked ya."

Ponyta's smile wavered, but ultimately stayed. Her eyes betrayed her, however; they revealed just how shocked and offended she was. Trying to mask it, she said, "Well, I would think I'd have the right to know why, since this is a touchy subject."

Poor choice of words on Ponyta'd part. Marill was fuming now, and Twilight could see Swellow tensing up, preparing to restrain the water type if necessary.

"Jus' what do _you_ know 'bout touchy subjects?!" she challenged.

"Enough to where I feel the need to help, even if _you_ are being... well, you," Ponyta countered, her flickering smile now out completely.

Twilight didn't want this escalating any further. "Girls..."

"Look who's talkin', Miss Ah-Can't-Leave-Others-Alone!"

"Girls."

"All I want is to know what's wrong, but you're being _completely_ immature."

"_Girls._"

"You're what's wrong!" Marill hissed.

"_GIRLS!_" screeched Twilight as she got in between them.

An eerie silence reigned in, and it wasn't just in the vicinity of the six of them. It was as if the entire world fell mute. The wind made no whooshes. The grass didn't give the faintest hum of a whistle. Not even the citizens around them did anything. They just stood there, watching the spectacle unfold, never daring to make even the softest whisper. They didn't care, though. To them, it was only an uncommon spectacle, and Twilight knew that. They didn't understand how much this 'spectacle' meant. And that was why Twilight blocked them out. What mattered at the moment were Marill and Ponyta.

She alternated her focus between them. Marill was glaring at Ponyta, unsurprisingly. It was obvious she wouldn't be swayed otherwise. Doubly so when she started snarling.

Twilight turned to Ponyta, and she was completely shocked with the mare's expression. Ponyta didn't glare or growl or snarl or any of that. [i]That[/i] made it so terrifying. Her face had no emotion within it. No anger, no determination, nothing. Staring into her eyes would only lead to a void of darkness that would suck Twilight in, if only she'd just let it...

Her memories replayed the nightmare she had only a few hours back, and she took an involuntary step back. Twilight didn't want to go through anything that resembled the dark, never-ending hallway from her nightmares, and the soulless abyss that temporarily resided in Ponyta's eyes was just too similar. She shifted her focus to the three that were standing behind Marill. Swellow was still tensed and poised for action, Wurmple was still blissfully ignorant of the gravity of this, and Chikorita...

Twilight would have laughed under better circumstances, but was Chikorita... spaced out? Either she was in deep thought, or she was in a trance. Twilight wanted to believe the former.

A sound so minuscule echoed through the entire town, and any citizens that were enamoured by the display lost all interest when the sound rang out. The rest of the Mane Six turned to the source (sans Chikorita, as it didn't seem to break her of her thoughts/trances/what-have-you). It was Marill, and the sound was her clearing her throat, which she did once more.

"If any o' _ya'll_ need me, Ah'll be at Mount Bristle," she said, taking extra care to put the emphasis on 'ya'll' so that it'd be interpreted as 'anyone but Ponyta'. Before Twilight or the others could say anything, Marill walked away, not bothering to look back.

With Marill gone, everyone's focus simultaneously shifted to Ponyta, who huffed. "I have better things to do than to stand here and be judged by my peers."

Wurmple pouted, and it might have been the first time that day the bug looked even remotely sad. "We aren't judging you!"

Ponyta gave an irritated sigh, and left in the direction of the Kecleon shop. The opposite directipn away from Marill.

It was just the four of them now, and not one of them wanted to say anything. Twilight stared at the ground sullenly, kicking a bit of dirt.

_I don't understand it,_ she thought. _How could App– Marill and Ponyta fight like that? Aside from the occasional disagreement, they got along just fine! What happened?_

She shook her head. _No, what_ didn't _happen? I don't think they really warmed up to each other like how Swellow and Wurmple or Ponyta and Chikorita did, back when I first move to Ponyville. Something happened back them that caused them to be friends... which hasn't happened here._

Swellow gave a dry chuckle, enough to bring Twilight's attention back to reality. "At least this was them when they're at their worst."

That did little to calm Twilight's nerves, and apparently, Wurmple felt the same. "But Marill said a lot of mean things!" she pouted.

"Well..." Swellow bobbed her head slightly and looked up, as if comtemplating the situation in her mind.

Wurmple gasped. "Swellow! You're not... No! Don't tell me... No!" I don't eve—"

Swellow put a wing up to Wurmple's mouth. "That's enough Wurmple," she said with a laugh.

Once Swellow put her wing down, Wurmple opened her mouth, as if she wanted to argue further. She sighed in defeat, and disappeared behind Swellow's head again, mumbling something about baking.

With Chikorita still... that, it was only Swellow and Twilight now.

"So..." Twilight said. "I don't see why Marill was so... so _hostile_ towards Ponyta. Pointing out a possibility doesn't seem like something to blow up over."

Another chuckle. "Marill just isn't willing to let go of the past, and Ponyta wants Marill to meet her all the way, not just halfway. That make any sense?"

Twilight blinked, and was surprised to feel that her eyes were starting to become wet. Was she crying? But why? What could crying possibly have to do with Swellow's vague explanation? Maybe... it was because she could relate to it?

Twilight held back her tears (which weren't that many) and nodded.

"Good," she continued. "'Cause I came up with that answer all myself. Yup, no one else."

Wurmple stuck her head out and quipped, "Silly Swellow, Miss Kangaskhan was the one who s—"

Swellow interrupted her by pushing Wurmple down behind her head. Twilight knew what Wurmple was driving at, however. "Kangaskhan... as in the one running the storage?"

Swellow gave an irritated look behind her head, but, upon realizing Wurmple was gone, she gave an exasperated sigh. "Yeah yeah, that's the one. She's always tellin' us these 'morals' and 'lessons' and stuff. Can't believe they actually make sense. Am I right?"

Twilight gave an unamused look.

Swellow then turned to Chikorita. "Am I right?"

Chikorita gave a small gasp, finally out of her thoughts. If Twilight didn't know any better, she could have sworn that Chikorita was... shaking?

Since Chikorita didn't immediately answer, Swellow repeated herself. "Am I right?"

"Oh, um... yes?"

Swellow obviously didn't notice the questioning tone. "Aw yeah!"

Chikorita turned her attention to Twilight, the Grass type's gaze unreadable. "I'm... I'm going to get the team bag."

"Right now?" Twilight asked as Chikorita passed her. "We're not buying anything."

Chikorita didn't answer, and once she was a few yards away, she broke out into a run.

"Yeesh," said Swellow. "What's all that about?"

Before Twilight could answer, Wurmple reappeared. "Hey! Do you like pina coladas?"

Swellow sighed, irritated. "We had some brownies this morning."

"No no! I mean pina coladas, as in pina colada flavored milkshakes! Do you guys like those?"

"Eh..." "Not particularly, no."

Wurmple gave the most dramatic sigh of relief she could give. "Whew! That's good! 'Cause they got caught in the rain."

Twilight looked up to the sky. Not a cloud in sight. She was about to ask how that could even happen, but then she remembered who she was talking with.

"I'm going to go make some Kelpsy Poffins!" Wurmple said, and she once again disappeared behind Swellow's head.

Without warning, Swellow laughed heartily, surprising Twilight some. "Oh thank Arceus! I can hardly stand those pina colada brownies! Or anything pina colada."

Twilight knitted her eyebrows together and tilted her head. "Arceus?" If the context was anything to go by, an Arceus must have been the equivalent to Princess Celestia. Did that mean that this place really was far away from Equestria? She had contemplated the idea before, but to have proof now, it was just... staggering.

It must of been an idiotic question with a 'native' like Swellow, as the avian gave her the weirdest look. "You know, Arceus?"

Twilight didn't answer.

"Ruler-slash-Creator of all Pokemon?"

No answer.

"Created from chaos as an egg?"

Still no answer, though her eyebrows intertwined further.

Swellow rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, even a Slowpoke would know that."

Twilight glared.

A chuckle came from Swellow. "Man, you need training _and_ teaching. I think Chikorita can teach you some stuff. The training, though, is my department, capiche?" Swellow stopped laughing, and a wondering expression grew on her face. "Speaking of Chikorita, it shouldn't take this long to get her bag."

"Not all of us can be as fast as you," Twilight pointed out.

"Yeah yeah, I'm just too awesome. But still, she _did_ run there..."

Not a moment later, Twilight heard a faint panting noise, which got louder and louder. The two turned around and saw Chikorita running towards them, the strap of the bag clenched tightly in her mouth.

"Chikorita, what's wrong?" asked Twilight once the Grass type stopped in front of them, dropping the bag as well.

"It's... It's..." she panted, from a mix of exhaustion and, for some reason, fear.

"Spit it out!" Swellow demanded.

"Drowzee!" Chikorita blurted out.

Drowzee? Was he in trouble? But that couldn't be right. If Drowzee was strong enough to guard Marill and her brother, surely he'd be strong enough to fend off any wild Pokemon. Right?

Chikorita continued. "He's..."

"He's _what_?" Swellow, getting annoyed, demanded once more, bending her head down to make eye contact.

Chikorita met her gaze with an uncharacteristically determined one of her own. "He's an _outlaw_."

Twilight's eyes widened. Going from what she knew about outlaws, it was that they were dangerous. Drowzee was dangerous. _And Marill and Azurill were with him._

Apparently, Swellow was just as concerned, as her eyes widened just like Twilight's. "Chikorita, you can't be... I mean... Marill and Azurill—"

"We have to go to Mount Bristle," Chikorita told her. "B-But, I can't go alone."

Swellow, despite the current situation, gave a cocky smirk. "Say no more buddy. Swellow's with ya the whole way!"

"I'll help too," said Twilight.

They both stared at her like she was crazy.

"...What?"

Swellow rubbed her wing behind her neck. "No offense Eev'. but uh... You aren't really..."

_Good in battle? Of course not. I know that,_ she thought. _But I still want to help, however little the contribution._

Swellow was still trying to find the right way to word it. With a warm smile, Twilight raised a paw. "Say no more. I'll just find a way to help without going for battle."

The avian sighed. "Oh thank Arceus..." She turned to Chikorita. "Ready when you are, buddy."

Chikorita nodded. She bit down on the strap of the satchel again, mumbled something incoherent, and ran off into the direction of the dungeon.

"We're coming, Marill!" cried Swellow as she flew rapidly ahead, creating a dust cloud in her wake. When that settled, Twilight saw Wurmple twirling in the air before falling with a _thud!_.

"The poffins aren't done yeeeet!" Wurmple whined. She snapped her head to and fro before setting her sights on Twilight. She stood on her last two legs in a dramativ pose. "I've got to get back before the poffins overheat!"

Wurmple jumped over behind Twilight's head.

"Wurmple!" Twilight cried out and put her two front paws behind her head to find the little caterpillar. When she couldn't find any trace of her, she slowly and hesitantly put her paws back down.

_Right. Wurmple Powers,_ she thought, her mental voice deadpan.

Ignoring the fact that Wurmple just used her as travel from where ever she usually went whe behind people's heads to Swellow's, she focused on the fact that Marill and Azurill needed help.

_Do they...?_ she asked herself, then immediately shook her head. _No. Chikorita wouldn't lie about that. Now think Twilight. What can you do to help._

Get help from the guild? No, that wouldn't do. They were aall off doing their own thing. Most of them were probably in dungeons by now. Although... maybe she didn't need a _guildmember's_ help.

Her sights set, she raced off towards Spinda's Cafe.

* * *

She was scared.

This was the only thing she could think of on the way to Mount Bristle. She hadn't even acknowledged Swellow's presence behind her, though she somehow knew she was there. There was nothing stopping the duo from rushing to save the two siblings. Nothing, except for her own fear.

She was afraid.

Marill and Azurill were all alone with a convict. A convict that would use their innocence (Azurill's especially) and rope them into doing his dirty work for him. He was an inhumane monster, even willing to harm Azurill if he didn't comply. Perhaps the scariest thing about him was that none of them— save Marill, as she always went by the common creed of 'guilty until proven innocent' —could have seen that his 'nice guy' act was just that; an act. A deception. A ruse.

She would have cowered in fear if given the chance. If only she warned them ahead of time, then she and Swellow wouldn't be going to stop a dangerous outlaw from harming the Marill sibling.

* * *

_The peak was enshrouded in the night's darkness. Darker than usual, actually, since the clouds obscured the moon's light. Hardly anything could be seen, except for the faintest outline of a small, round, creature._

_It looked around the flat area of the peak. From each side, there were scraggly walls, looking about ready to collapse. And yet, the creature felt unfazed. Instead, its sights were set on the area in front of it, where the peak ended into a cliff. With a sigh, it turned around, and a larger outline of a creature emerged._

_"Mister Drowzee, I don't see the Water Float anywhere..." said the smaller creature in a dejected tone. Its voice sounded high pitched, like alittle boy's._

_The larger outline, Drowzee, inched his way over, and a chill went up the smaller figure's spine. Something inside him was telling him to get out. [i]Now[/i]. He simply brushed the thought away. After all, a child like him had his sights set on only one thing, and that was his missing item._

_"Maybe... it's over there," Drowzee said, pointing a finger into the direction of one of the walls. Despite it being pitch black, the smaller creature seemed to know what Drowzee was driving at. He waddled over to the wall, his hopes held high. When he saw nothing that looked even remotely like his missing item, he frowned. "It's not here."_

_"Of course not," Drowzee said coldly._

_When the smaller creature turned around, he was surprised to see Drowzee right behind him. He would have thought the Psychic type would be a bit farther back. But he wasn't. Almost like he was... cornering him._

_Realization hit him like a brick. His eyes widened. "W-What are you... Mister Drowzee?" he asked, not believing what he was seeing._

_"Who else but?" Drowzee let out a chuckle, but then stopped. It was then that the moon finally came from the clouds. The light of it shone straight on Drowzee, revealing his sadistic expression, as well as his true motives._

_"P-Please Mister Dr-Drowzee, I—"_

_"Enough talk," he interrupted coldly. "See that there?" He pointed a finger at the wall behind the smaller creature._

_He turned around and saw a little hole. It seemed small enough for him to climb under._

_"If you know what's good for you," continued Drowzee. "you'll go get the treasure behind the hole."_

_"T-Treasure?" the smaller creature stuttered._

_Drowzee scowled. "Yes, treasure. I'm not going to repeat that again. Now do as I say, or else."_

_The smaller figure's eyes darted around, in search of anything or anyone that could help him. There was nothing, and once his eyes met the cruel eyes of his captor, he couldn't take it anymore._

_"HEEEEELP!"_

* * *

The... 'vision' ended there. If she had gotten the vision earlier, maybe she could have stopped them from leaving. No, if she realized it from before. When she retrieved Azurill's apple, she heard him cry out 'Help'. At the time, she had only thought of it as a trick of the wind. Now, her lack of action could result in something... something bad.

Before she knew it, she and Swellow had made it to Mount Bristle's entrance. The sun was still high in the sky. That was good. It meant more time to find and save the Marill siblings.

"So..." started Swellow. "Why so deadset on the idea Drowzee's an outlaw?"

She shuddered at the Flying type's use of the word 'dead'. And then, her mind dwelled on what she actually said. Was Swellow actually _doubting_ her? Even when there were two innocent Pokemon's lives at stake?

"Mfrewwoh—" she started, though she had forgotten she still had the satchel's strap in her mouth.

"Here," said Swellow as she took the bag from her mouth and put it on.

She gave a nod of thanks and continued. "You aren't doubting me... are you?"

It wasn't meant to be an accusation, but Swellow's expression made it apparent that she did. "No! I mean, it's just... I'm curious, that's all."

She shrank her head back slightly, regretting that she had even though that Swellow had doubted her. She opened her mouth to explain, though no words came out. It was then that she realized she had no effective way to explain what she experienced. Of course, it was a vision... but why did she have it? And how? No, the hows and whys would have to come later. For now, the simple answer would suffice.

"I had a vision."

Swellow didn't say anything. She just gave her a look that told her to continue.

"See, I..." She faltered. Why would she falter? All she had to do was explain what her vision was about. But... she was afraid. For what, she wasn't quite sure. But she was, nonetheless.

Swellow's eyebrow arched up. It was obvious she wasn't letting this go until it was explained, unlike Eevee.

She finally gave in. "On the summit, at night... There'll be Drowzee and Azurill, and Drowzee..."

Content, Swellow interrupted by raising a wing. "Say no more Chikorita. I get'cha. But what about Marill?"

"Marill?" she asked in confusion, and then her eyes immediately widened. Marill wasn't in the vision. _Marill wasn't in the vision._ She must have still been in/will still be in the other floors of Mount Bristle.

As if reading her mind, Swellow summed it up. "So we look for Marill and save her brother."

Chikorita nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let—"

"HOLD IT!" shouted a voice. Sais voice turned out to be Wurmple, who had reappeared from behind Swellow's head.

"Wurmple!" Swellow glared at her. "We're kind of in the middle of a rescue mission thing, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied dismissively, then produced a round, blue object. "The poffin's done!"

"... That it?"

Wurmple gave a gleeful nod and gave the poffin to Swellow, who, in turn, put it in her bag.

"Is there anything else you need?" Chikorita asked.

"Nope! Oh wait..." She cleared her throat, then gave a dramatic pose. "You'll need this poffin sometime in your journey! When the time comes to use it, you'll know..." With that, she gave a ghostly moan and disappeared slowly behind Swellow's head.

A few seconds of silence passed. Then, despite the tense situation, Swellow burst out laughing, causing Chikorita to do the same.

"When the, when the time—BWAHAHA!" Swellow tried mocking Wurmple's overly dramatic style, but ended up laughing too hard to say anything more.

When the laughter died down, the tension came back. They still had to rescue Marill and Azurill. There was hardly any time for goofing around.

"We should—"

"Yeah."

They both entered the dungeon, and Chikorita's fear continued to grow.

* * *

_Not Ponyta... Not Ponyta... Not—Argh! This is getting me nowhere! Where is she?!_

There was no trace of the flaming-maned mare anywhere, and Twilight could feel her body sulking. Ponyta had said she was at the cafe. Twilight looked all over and not a single Ponyta was found, much less the one she wanted to find.

Twilight stopped walking, causing the wooden floor under her to creak slightly. The penny dropped. Ponyta was here, _but she was here a while ago_. She had gotten into a fight with Marill and headed...

_To the Kecleon shop!_ she thought proudly, then frowned. _How could I forget that had happened so easily? I must be losing my touch..._

"Hey," a somewhat deep voice from behind called out. Turning around, Twilight saw a pale pink panda behind the counter, with hot pink spots randomly placed on its body. Its eyes were swirls. Literal swirls. Twilight was about to ask why that was and how it could even see, but then she saw it wobbling in place slightly.

_That must be why,_ she deduced. _Though it still doesn't explain how it can see._

"_Hey_," the panda said again, a frown on its face.

Twilight laughed nervously when she noticed she had spaced out in her thoughts. Composing herself, she greeted, "Hello...?"

He (it sounded like a 'he') nodded. "You looking for something?"

"Ah... I was looking for my friend," she explained. "But I just realized that she went somewhere else."

He nodded again and extended a hand. "Spinda."

"Of Spinda's Cafe?" When he nodded, Twilight extended a paw as well and shook his hand. "Eevee."

"You want a drink?"

She peered over the counter to see many glass mugs and a contraption that had different logos on it, probably to dispense different kinds of drinks. "I really shouldn't. It's important that I find my friend."

Spinda shrugged. "Don't sweat it. Who're you trying to find?"

"Ponyta. Though I remember where she went now."

He nodded once more. "Ah, Ponyta. Left a while ago, you can tell."

Something tapped Twilight's shoulders. She turned around and saw two Pokemon; one small Grass type looking creature with a vine for a body, and a large camel with a volcano on his back. The small one was fidgeting about.

"Did you say you knew where Ponyta went?" the small one asked.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You are?"

"Oh! I'm Bellsprout, and this—" He motioned his arm, which was a leaf, at the camel. "—is Camerupt. With Ponyta with us, we're Team Flame."

Ponyta was in a rescue team? "I never knew she was in a rescue team."

Camerupt grunted. "Bellsprout doesn't like giving our team excess attention, so we asked Ponyta not to mention us if she could help it."

Twilight repressed the urge to laugh. Ponyta refusing attention? It was too comical for words. And yet, Twilight felt proud of her for her self control.

Bellsprout tilted his head. "Aren't you one of the Pokemon that got her Relic Fragment back?"

She smiled. "Along with my friend Chikorita, yes."

"That makes sense. We met up with Chikorita when she came here yesterday, and she mentioned that an Eevee was with her during the mission. Why weren't you at the cafe with her?"

_Because I was unconscious for the entirety of yesterday,_ she wanted to say, though Camerupt spoke before she could.

"We're straying from the point. Do you know where Ponyta went?"

"At first, I thought she was here," she explained. "But now I remember that she went to the Kecleon shop. I don't know if she's still there, though."

Bellsprout smiled. "Thanks for the help!" Without waiting for a response, he left the cafe.

Camerupt turned to Twilight. "Yeah, thanks. We'll send you a fruit basket or something." He followed after Bellsprout and left as well.

_So Ponyta has a rescue team as well... _Twilight thought. _Team Flame, was it?_

"Hey," Spinda said, interrupting Twilight from her thoughts. What could Spinda be wanting now?

"Hmm?" she hummed, turning to him.

He set a mug of frothy yellow liquid down on the counter. "You look like you could use a drink."

She eyed the glass with a quizzical expression. "Is that..." Twilight sniffed it. "Apple Cider?"

"_Perfect_ Apple Cider," he corrected. "Got a lot of them from Apple Woods."

Twilight turned her head to the exit, then back at the mug. "I really shouldn't. I have to find my friend."

"It's on the house for a new person as yourself."

"I have t—..." She narrowed her gaze. "How do you know I'm new here?"

He smirked. "I have my ways."

Twilight was not amused, and her expression showed that.

Spinda rolled his eyes. "Kid, I've been in the cafe game for a long time. I know who's a newbie and who's a veteran," he huffed.

"Oh." That made sense.

"That, and your Ponyta friend was telling me about you and your Chikorita friend earlier today."

She couldn't help but smile. "Really?"

He nodded, and tapped the counter, bringing Twilight's attention back to the mug. She pursed her lips. Twilight didn't have time to partake in drinking some cider. She had to find Ponyta! Then again, it [i]did[/i] look tasty. Almost like something Marill would've made.

But her friends were her top priority. "I'm sorry Spinda, but it's important that I find my friend."

The panda Pokemon smirked and put his arms up halfway in playful defeat. "Say no more, buddy."

Buddy... Did he consider her his friend? After only meeting this one time? Though, hearing that, Twilight smiled.

"Come by later to drink some cider, if you want," Spinda said.

"Will do." She waved goodbye, then left the cafe.

* * *

_Mount Bristle 1F_

"Do you see anything, Swellow?" Chikorita asked, her head tilted upward.

The Flying type glided in the air back to her friend, swerving constantly to prevent herself from crashing into the stalagmites on the rocky ceiling. "No sign of anything except a few wild Pokemon!" she yelled down to Chikorita.

The Grass type's head hung low in sorrow. It'd take forever to search through the mountain! Aside from the large room they entered in, there were multiple chambers leading into even more area within the floor. There was just too much ground to cover!

It wouldn't be that simple to just find the stairway and make it to the top as fast as possible. They needed to find Marill as well. After all, she wasn't apart of Chikorita's vision. Who knew just what kind of trouble she was in? She shuddered just thinking about it.

Even finding the stairs would prove difficult. If the first floor was this large, then the other floors would be even larger. It would be hard enough trying to find Marill in this labyrinth, but the stairs were a necessity as well.

Swellow landed down next to Chikorita. "Okay, so four things."

"Good or...?" She didn't bother finishing her sentence.

"Three good, the other isn't that bad," she answered. "One, I found the stairs. Two, this floor is smaller than I thought. These chambers all connect to, what, four rooms total?"

Chikorita felt herself involuntarily sigh with relief. At least now it'd be easier to search for Marill and advance to the peak. "And the other two...?"

Swellow patted the satchel she still had on. "Three, found some items on the floor. Berries and Blast Seeds, mostly. Four, the kind of sort of bad news, I haven't found Marill."

The Grass type frowned. "Well... At least we know she isn't on this floor." She couldn't help but gulp at how the inconvenient news could very well have been really bad news.

"Yeah..." Swellow said, her gaze fixed on the chamberways. She muttered something incoherent. Before Chikorita could ask anything regarding that, Swellow pointed a wing to the one on the far left. "Stairs're this way."

Swellow started flying once more and headed for the stairs, Chikorita following close behind.

* * *

_Mount Bristle 4F_

"It's official," Swellow said. "There're no wild Pokemon anywhere at all."

"And we still haven't found Marill," Chikorita added glumly.

Swellow turned her head to her companion. "Didn't you hear me? There are no wild Pokemon. _There should be._"

Surprised and intimidated at the fierceness of Swellow's tone, Chikorita stuttered. "I-I—"

Suddenly, a loud screech echoed about. Then another. Then... overlapping ones? The duo turned around and saw a clad of black and white blurs head towards them.

"Starly!" Swellow exclaimed. She took a fighting stance, then turned to Chikorita. "Get ready!"

The Grass type gave a meek nod and stood in a defensive stance, preparing for the barrage of attacks...

...that never came? All the Starly flew passed them as if the two weren't even there. Swellow was nothing short of mad.

"What, you guys don't think we're tough enough for you?" she challenged. "C'mon, let's battle!"

Chikorita's eyes widened. Swellow must have been pretty angry to attempt attacking _an entire flock of Starly_. "Swellow!" said Chikorita in a hushed whisper.

She ignored her. The avian never took her gaze of the flock, which was almost at the stairs leading downward. "I can take you all on and then some! Come on, _fight me_!"

The entire flock flew down the stair, now out of earshot. All except one. An entire room separated Swellow and the Starly, though there was no mistaking that the opponent was ready to fight.

Seeing the determination flaring in Swellow's eyes, Chikorita knew that there was nothing stopping her friend from the fight. She backed up to the wall so as not to be within the action.

Both Flying types screeched, and they rocketed towards each other. The battle was on.

* * *

_Kecleon Shop, Treasure Town_

After taking a moment to recall where the Kecleon Shop was, it was easy finding Ponyta. Sure enough, the Fire type was in front of the shop, talking with Bellsprout and Camerupt, who must have arrived before Twilight did. The Kecleon brothers seemed too busy with their inventory to join in on the conversation.

Ponyta stopped talking once she noticed Twilight approaching, and then she smiled. "Why, hello Eevee."

"Hi there, Ponyta," Twilight greeted back, smiling at how warmly she was greeted.

She glanced at her two team mates, then back at Twilight. "You've met Bellsprout and Camerupt, right?"

"In the cafe, yes." Then she frowned, remembering how important the situation was. "I'm not here for small talk, though."

Ponyta's smile vanished. "Oh?"

Twilight nodded. "You see..." She faltered, trying to find a good way to phrase the situation at hand. "You remember that Drowzee, right?"

She gave a small nod, now frowning. "Yes, I do remember passing by him as well as Azurill on my way over. Why?"

"He's an outlaw," she said bluntly.

Ponyta's response went just as how Twilight envisioned it; The Fire type merely nodded. Then, as the severity of the situation slowly dawned on her, her expression gradually became that of panic and concern. "That means... Azurill and Marill, they... oh Arceus!"

"Chikorita and Swellow went after him," Twilight continued. "And I stayed behind so I could find them some back up." She avoided mentioning how she was _forcibly_ prevented from going to Mount Bristle.

The mare gave a determined nod. "Very well then."

Both Bellsprout and Camerupt walked closer to the duo. "What are we, chopped liver?" Bellsprout asked. "We're helping too!"

Camerupt nodded. "Which dungeon did they go to?"

"Mount Bristle," Twilight answered.

Bellsprout tensed up, Twilight noticed. He took a step back. "With the... the Starly and the Nidorino and the like? Maybe you guys should, uh, should just let me sit this one out."

Camerupt pushed him slightly, though, because of how much smaller Bellsprout was, the Grass type ended up being knocked to the ground.

"Ow! Hey!"

"You're going," Camerupt demanded, glaring at him.

He pouted. "But I... Aw man..."

Ponyta turned her attention back on Twilight. "We have to go to Mount Bristle to stop Drowzee, correct?"

Twilight nodded.

"Is there any more back up?"

"Er..." she muttered. "No, not really."

Just then, a voice rang out. "Hey!" It was unmistakably Wurmple. But where was she? There was no sign of the bug anywhere. Not on the ground, not floating in the air through questionable means, not behind anyone's hea—

"She's behind my head, isn't she?" Twilight asked, her voice deadpanned. Everyone's eye contact at the top of Twilight's head proved it.

"Yup," Pinkie said, tapping one of her front legs on Twilight's ear. Then her voice gained as much seriousness as Wurmple could muster, which wasn't a lot. "Let me help!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were already with Swellow and Chikorita."

"Ha ha, nope! I just gave them an Oran poffin. I had to, or the stove would overheat and then Swellow's head would catch on fire. I mean, that'd just be horrible!" One look at Ponyta's mane made Wurmple shrink back a little. "Whoopsie. Sorry."

Ponyta seemed unfazed, as she waved her hoof dismissively. "It's quite alright, darling. After all, we have more pressing matters at hand."

Wurmple's smile brightened, which was quite unnerving seeing as she was the only one of the five smiling. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Her smiled went undeterred even after a tense moment of silence. No one dared to move, and not one of them thought twice about speaking. It was if any noise was suddenly taboo. Twilight couldn't fathom why none of them, not even her, were speaking to Wurmple, but she couldn't help but follow suit.

It was a loud cough that pierced through the silence that brought everyone back to their senses. They all turned to see the Kecleon brothers leaning on the stall's counter. Both brother's had solemn and worried expressions, though they tried their best to mask it. Purple did an adequate job. Green, not so much.

"Let's see if we've got this right," Purple said.

Green's eyes narrowed as he leaned closer. "Azurill and Marill, two _children_, are traveling with a psychotic outlaw _as we speak?!_"

Bellsprout ended up answering as he put one leafy arm behind his head. "Well, when you put it that way..."

"And you're just standing around like _idiots_ while two of your friends are trying to save them?!" Green Kecleon was fuming at this point, and Purple did little to contain his sibling's anger.

Twilight was somewhat miffed about being called an idiot when it was her priority to gain some reinforcements. Before she could argue, though, Camerupt nonchalantly answered him. "That's the gist of it."

Green blinked, his anger replaced with confusion. He was definitely not expecting such an answer, and a blunt one at that.

"And you're right," Camerupt continued. "We can't be standing around if they're still in trouble."

Bellsprout gave a small nod. "He's right. We've got enough reinforcements, the five of us. Let's get going!"

"To Mount Bristle," Ponyta said.

Twilight was, honestly, glad at how determined everyone was, and felt the corner of her lips crack upward into a smile. "Mount Bristle," she concurred. Then she blinked, a thought occuring to her. "Where exactly is it?"

Since Green Kecleon was still composing himself, Purple answered in his steed. "It's not that far." He glanced at the three members of Team Flame. "I'm sure the rest of you know where that is, right?"

They gave mumbles and nods of confirmation.

He shifted his gaze back to Twilight. "Just follow them and I'm sure you'll be fine."

Hearing it phrased that way, her smile faltered as she felt the feeling of guilt creeping up on her. If she followed them, she'd probably become a liability due to her inability to battle well enough to defend herself. Sure, with the anxiousness of it all, Twilight could probably supress the guilty feeling. But, in the end, she knew that she wouldn't be able to do a thing.

"Let's get going!" Wurmple yelled with much conviction, repeating what Bellsprout had said. The rest of them, save for Twilight, roared with determination. And at once, Twilight understood.

Liability or not, she wanted to rescue Marill and Azurill and help out Chikorita and Swellow as much as she could. Never would she sit still as the others went for them without her. They were her friends, whether they remembered her or not.

The five of them made haste towards their destination, the sun already high in the sky.

* * *

_Mount Bristle 4F_

"Hyahh!" Swellow shouted, flapping her wings rapidly to create a large gust of wind. She fired it right for the bird Pokemon that was a fourth of her size.

...and it dodged the attack effortlessly, just like the last dozen times. Swellow's face reddened in anger. "Come on already!" she snarled. "Be a man and fight me!"

The Starly gave a short and sharp squawk.

Swellow blinked. Then, once she realized what made it made, she gave a wry smile. "Gee, sorry _man_. I wouldn't want to ruin your _colorful plummage_."

Chikorita sat on the ground, watching the Starly fume as Swellow kept up her constant taunting. She bit the bottom of her lips, glancing at the chamberways every second. They needed to get going, or they wouldn't make it in time. Swellow needed to hurry up and fight the little Starly.

It shouldn't have been taking this long to defeat. Then again, its nimbleness allowed it to avoid all of Swellow's attacks. And yet she had the little bird distracted, so why didn't she just defeat it then and there?

Silently, she pleaded for Swellow to grow bored with it and leave it be. Chikorita hated to see any living being harmed. It felt immoral, but they all had to fight if they wanted to get through life as they knew. It was...

"Wrong... wrong wrong wrong..." said a voice that unintentionally completed Chikorira's thoughts. Her head jolted up as she took a standing position, looking to and fro in search of the voice. Apparently, Swellow did not notice the voice, as she kept at her taunts and jabs at the smaller bird. The voice spoke again, this time a bit louder. "Wrong..."

"Hello?" Chikorita called out.

No answer. Swellow's fight from behind the Grass type seemed almost nonexistant in the anticpation of waiting for an answer that could have never come.

Except, she was wrong, which is what the voice had said. "Wrong..."

"Um... where are you?" she said, her eyes darting around the entire room, searching for anything. She spotted some movement from a figure that was staggering closer, muttering the same word over and over again. It seemed to be average sized, round, and blue...

Chikorita's eyes widened. "Marill!"

She shouted so loud, it made Swellow swivel her head towards her direction, the Starly immediately forgotten (and it soon left). The Flying type flew down next to Marill just as Chikorita reached her. "Oh Arceus... Marill?!"

"Wrong wrong... wrong..." she mumbled once more, her voice hoarse and just a little more than a whisper.

"_Marill,_" Swellow emphasized, picking the limped figure straight up. The Water type's eyes were puffy with tears, though they only masked the hollow emptiness within.

Swellow shook her vigorously, causing Chikorita to wince at the sight. "Come on man, speak to us."

"Wrong wrong..."

"Wrong _what_?"

As if a new being was born into existance, Marill's eyes filled with life, suddenly returning back to the same stubborn Pokemon they both knew. "_Ah' was wrong!_" she snapped.

There was a shout from far off, though none of them could tell what was said.

* * *

_Mount Bristle 4F_

"This is _beyond_ weird," Bellsprout murmured.

"Shut it."

"C'mon Camerupt! You can't tell me that it's _normal_ for wild Pokemon to not be here."

"_Shut it,_" Camerupt scowled. "or else you'll _attract_ the wild Pokemon."

Bellsprout folded his arms together. "How can we attract them if they aren't even here?"

Ponyta stopped walking, and she turned her head to her bickering team mates. "Please, darlings, we need to stay quiet." The two gave murmurs of hesitant agreement.

Twilight sighed in relief that the two were finally stopping their argument. It was bad enough that they were all nervous about the Marill siblings', Chikorita's, and Swellow's wellbeings and the fact that there was a [i]dangerous outlaw[/i] with the former, but they didn't need this tense arguing between the two Team Flame members.

They also didn't need Wurmple's excessive whining. "Are we theeeere yet?"

Since Wurmple was atop Twilight's head, she took the brunt of the annoyance. She sighed. "For the tenth time, we're—"

A loud voice echoed about. _"Ah' was wrong!"_

"MARILL?!" everyone but Twlight shouted in shock. They all looked at each other, wide eyed and uncertain.

"That was..."

"It can't be."

"But I thought..."

Wurmple beamed, the severity of the situation going unnoticed. "Marill! Come on guys, that was Marill! Let's go!" She rocketed forward, leaving a dust cloud in her wake.

Twilight and Team Flame, with little hesitance, hurried after her until they all reached a different room. Much to their surprise and relief, Chikorita and Swellow were there, with the latter of the two holding what appeared to be Marill.

Of course, Wurmple was the first to approach the trio, and Swellow was the first to notice the five of them appear.

"Swellow!" The Bug type leapt at her for a flying tackle hug, which wasn't that much 'tackle' and more 'hug'.

"Wurmple?" She let go of Marill, dropping her to the ground. "Guys?"

Ponyta answered once the rest of them sprinted over. "Of course. You didn't expect us to just let you go by yourselves, did you?"

"Yeah!" Bellsprout shouted. "We wouldn't leave you guys here!"

Twilight took one look at Marill, then flinched slightly. Seeing the Water type looking so... so _defeated_, it was heartbreaking. It got her thinking of Azurill, and what would happen to him if he was still with the outlaw. Was he?

Marill sat back up, crossing her stubby arms in a huff. "Consarnit Swellow!"

She rubbed her wing behind her neck, a dry chuckle escaping her beak. "Heh, sorry about that..." Her voice gained a more serious tone afterwards. "Marill, why were you doing that?"

She didn't answer. Or, rather, she didn't answer _her_. Instead, Marill stood up and turned to Ponyta. "Ponyta, Ah'..." her voice trailed off, and her gaze shifted to the ground below.

"What is it, darling?" Ponyta asked, frowning.

A few long seconds passed until Marill finally decided to speak again. "Ah' was wrong," she said bluntly, her eyes never leaving the ground below.

Twilight could decipher Ponyta's thoughts with ease, like reading an open book. The mare was conflicted as to what to say and do. Thousands of possibilities were presented to her, and it was impossible to choose.

Except, she did, Twilight could tell. Ponyta decided to stand there, doing nothing besides her short breathes. Sooner or later, Marill would elaborate, and that was what the mare was waiting for.

She was right. Not too long after did Marill speak again, though in a small whisper this time. "Yeh' told me 'bout how Drowzee may've been evil, but Ah' din' wanna believe it. Just 'cause Ah' was mad at'cha." She paused, then sniffled, shutting her eyes tight. "A-And now, Azurill's prolly at the summit wit' that Drowzee, a-and he could... could..."

It was a pitiful sight, Marill crying. She was normally so headstrong and stubborn in her views, and yet here she was, breaking down into a sniveling mess. Who could blame her? Her brother was with a dangerous outlaw, in monumental danger. Just the implications of that could make anyone cry.

Twilight wanted nothing more than to console the Water type, but Ponyta beat her to it. The mare took a few slow steps forward, then knelt down so that she was within eye contact, despite Marill's eyes still closed shut.

"That Drowzee..." Marill continued. "When Azurill wandered off, he gave me the slip. He told me some 'bout his, his plan, an' then he left b'fore Ah' could chase afta' him."

"Marill..." Ponyta murmured.

Camerupt grunted. "What kind of villain would tell someone about their plan?"

Twilight already knew the answer. "He's too arrogant for his own good," she deduced, explaining it to the rest of them. "He's so confident about his plan that he thinks it won't do any harm telling you."

"Wait a tic..." Wurmple, who was atop Swellow's head, said. "What [i]is[/i] Drowzee's plan?"

Another sniffle, then Marill's eyes fluttered open, resting themselves in Wurmple's direction. "It's too horrible fer me ta say..."

From below Wurmple, Swellow scowled. "That's all I need to know. What're we waiting for? Let's go find them!"

Chikorita nodded. "We can't just stand around doing nothing. We, we have to save Azurill."

"But of course," said Ponyta.

"It'd be stupid to just leave right now, right?" Bellsprout asked.

Wurmple giggled. "Rescue party Alpha Omega Sega 6 GO!"

Marill shook her head. "I've _been_ lookin'. Ah' couldn't even find the stairs..."

Twilight smiled. "But this time..." She turned to the others. "You're not alone."

Marill sniffed again, then she smiled as well. A sad one, but a smile nonetheless. "Ya'll are... thank ya _so much_..."

"What are friends for?" Ponyta asked rhetorically.

Marill muttered something under her breathe. To Twilight, it sounded like the water type said 'friends...', though she wasn't sure.

Swellow started flying. "Gimme a minute or two and I'll find those stairs faster than Wurmple can make some papaya butter cookies!" Then, she zipped off, bringing Wurmple along.

The six of them stood there, most of them tapping their feet impatiently. Everyone was nervous, Twilight could tell.

They were forced to wait around, the only things on their minds were the possibilities of what would happen to Azurill. It was hard for everyone, Marill especially.

Two minutes passed, and Team Tasty wasn't back yet.

By the third minute, everyone was growing antsier.

The fourth minute passed, and Marill and Bellsprout started pacing around. Just when Twilight considered doing so herself, the sound of fluttering wings echoed about, and Swellow and Wurmple finally returned.

"Did'ya find it?" Marill asked in a single, panted breathe.

The avian rolled her eyes. "Duh. What, you didn't think I'd be back without finding it, right?"

"It took us a while, though!" Wurmple added.

Twilight stepped in, not wanting to waste any more time. "Everyp-er, everyone, we need to get going."

They all nodded and, wordlessly, the eight of them trudged forward, the tenseness of it all failing to weigh them down.

* * *

_Mount Bristle Summit_

Much to their relief, the final floors' stairways were quicker to find, and soon they arrived at the summit.

The summit was even _darker_ than the inside of the mountain. Twilight couldn't see five feet in front of her, and she suspected that none of them could either.

Something bumped into Twilight's side, followed by an 'EEP!' from it. "Hey!"

That something turned out to be Chikorita. "O-Oops, sorry Eevee..."

From a few feet away, a _thud!_ was heard. "Ponyta!" It sounded like Swellow.

"Sorry dearie. Would you like some help standing up?"

"Don't think so," she answered. "Hey, where's Wurmple?"

"Right here!"

"Marill?"

"Yeah. We at the summit?"

"I don't even know, okay? It's too dark."

Twilight turned around towards the direction where she thought her friends were. "Alright girls, we need to stay close together. Come by me and Chikorita."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Camerupt spoke. "So... where are you?"

"Follow the sound of my—"

"Found you!" Wurmple giggled as she jumped on Twilight's head, once again weighing her down to the floor.

"Shush, Eevee," Swellow said. "I think I see Drowzee."

As Twilight groaned, Chikorita made her way towards Swellow. "How can you see him? It's really dark... a-and spooky... a-and—"

"See the moon up there?" she asked, cutting off Chikorita and her fear of her surroundings. "It's shining down over there. I think that's Drowzee it's shining on."

Marill barged through them all and made her way to Swellow and Chikorita. "Where's that roach at?!"

"There." She pointed her wing at the small yellow figure at the other end. "I think Azurill's there also."

Before Marill could respond, a loud scream echoed about, leaving everyone's eardrums ringing. "HEEEEEEEELP!"

"AZURILL!" Marill shouted. She shot forward towards her brother before anyone could stop her.

"We're not letting her go alone, right guys?" Swellow asked.

Despite the amount of danger they'd be put in, Twilight knew that Azurill and now Marill were _already_ in that kind of danger. It'd wouldn't do anything to not to go. "Of course not. Let's go!"

"And let's try not to bump into each other, alright?" Camerupt said.

"Don't you worry buddy," said Bellsprout. "The moon's making it brighter out here."

He nodded. "Good."

With Twilight leading, the seven of them ran forward towards the three of them, the cold air battering their faces. And also a blue blur that rocketed towards Chikorita and Ponyta, that battered those two as well.

"Girls!" Twilight shouted, snapping her head back. On top of Chikorita and Ponyta was Marill, who was groaning in pain.

A sinister cackle flowed into the air, forcing itself to be heard by all. "Stupid child. I thought I got rid of you before. Don't you listen?"

Marill's body shot upward, and a glare formed on her face. "As long as Azurill's in danger, I ain't ever givin' up!"

Chikorita gave a small squeak. "Um, Marill, if it's not too much trouble, could you please, um, get off of us?"

Marill did just the opposite. She stood up fully, her two feet squishing the bodies of both Pokemon. "Gimme back my brother, Drowzee!"

"That's fine too..." mumbled Chikorita.

Drowzee cackled again. "Sure sure. Just as soon as he does what I want."

From behind the Drowzee, a small blue figure appeared. "Marill, help!"

"Azurill..." she whispered. Then she shouted, "_Azurill!_ Don' worry, I'll get ya away from him!"

Drowzee sneered. "I'd like to see you try. Again."

Marill's stance faltered slightly. "Again..." she mumbled. She shook her head vigorously, as if to get that kind of doubt out of her head. "Shut up, ya varmint! Ah' can take ya down myself!"

Swellow flew next to her and the two others she was standing on. "Not a chance buddy."

She snapped her head to the avian's direction. "What'd yew say, _Swellow_?" she said scathingly.

"No way in Arceus's name are you going in by yourself! We're fighting with you!" Swellow roared, pumping her wing in the air.

The Water type blinked, and then a smile formed on her face. "Thanks..." she whispered.

Wurmple slithered by her team mate. "Let's fight! And then party!"

"We as well," said Camerupt.

Bellsprout took a step back. "Uh, we? That's a _dangerous outlaw_ you know."

Camerupt, as a response, pushed the feeble Grass type next to the others that were ready for battle. "We've made it this far, _I'm not letting you Combusken out_."

Bellsprout huffed as Camerupt walked over. "_Fiiiiine_."

From under Marill's foot, Ponyta said, "We are apart of this as well... Just as soon as Marill gets off of us, perhaps?"

"Unless you don't want to..." Chikorita added.

Marill stepped off of them, and the two of them stood up, now apart of the group. The only one left was Twilight, and the answer was obvious to her; join the group and show Drowzee Tartarus he had to pay.

So why was she hesitating?

Swellow looked at Twilight expectantly. "C'mon Eevee, you fighting or not?"

_Say it Twilight,_ she thought. _Just say 'of course' and fight. Just move your little paws to the group. Just save Azurill. Just. Move._

But she couldn't. She couldn't say it, she couldn't move, and she certainly couldn't help save Azurill if she couldn't do the rest. But why? She was so confident in this when she set out with the others, so why couldn't she just _go through with it_?

_Because you can't._ The thought subconsciously came to her. _If you can't beat a Shellos alone, how do you expect to fight a dangerous criminal, one who's endangering the life of a child, with just a few 'friends'?_ it spat.

Twilight gave a mental, quizzical hum. _What do you– 'I' –mean? Why such disgust at the concept of friends?_

It ignored her question. _...you can't do this, Twilight._

She shivered a little at her name being mentioned, the dream from earlier brought up in her mind. Trying her best to ignore it, she focused on the actual sentence. Maybe it was right. Maybe she _couldn't_ do it. And Swellow and Chikorita knew it, too, else they would have brought her with them when they first left. She would only be treated as a liability, and she would [i]be[/i] a liability.

_Run now,_ her mind answered her doubts. _They can do better without you. You'll just be in the—_

"_Eevee._" Swellow said once more.

Twilight's body jolted, breaking her free from her thoughts. One look at the seven Pokemon in front of her, glimmering brightly by the shine of the moon, washed all of her doubts away. Her friends may not have needed her, but they certainly _wanted_ her to fight. And who was she to disappoint?

With surprisingly little effort, she made her way to the rest of the group. A small smile grew on her lips. "We're a team. All of us. And we're going to stand by Marill and fight to get Azurill back!" Everyone cheered behind her, causing her grin to become larger.

Drowzee didn't speak immediately. Instead, he turned to Azurill. Surprisingly, his eyes began to glow red, and then Azurill's entire body did as well.

Azurill gasped. "I can't...! Gaaah!"

"What'dya just do ta my brother?!" Marill scowled, making a fist with her stubby arms.

Though the moonlight was partially obscured by the clouds, Drowzee's piercing smirk could be seen by all. "Merely something to keep the tyke there while we battle. That means no sneaking him away by any of you sneaky fools."

Chikorita's eyes widened. "That... That was going to be my plan."

"What a meanie..." Wurmple muttered.

Twilight's words from earlier rang in her mind. _'__He's too arrogant for his own good.'_ "And he crafty," she added. "Arrogance and slyness make for one dangerous villain."

"Yeah, I think we got that," Swellow said. Then she pointed a wing at Drowzee defiantly and shouted, "CHAAAAGE!"

The battle began.

* * *

**A/N: I had to split this up in two parts, as it was too long. The actual battle will be posted soon.**

**I also need a cover picture for this story, please. And maybe a TVTropes page too?**


	6. Mission: Save Azurill Part Two

Swellow took flight, allowing Marill and Wurmple to climb aboard, and she shot towards the outlaw. Ponyta and Camerupt charged forward. Chikorita gulped and scampered in Swellow's direction. Bellsprout, not knowing which side to pick, chose a third option and snuck towards Azurill. Twilight dug her forepaw into the ground before taking off in Ponyta's direction.

The duo of Fire types shot rounds of fire at the outlaw, who created a translucent blue barrier that deflected it towards the ground, where it dissipated into nothingness.

Ponyta frowned. "This won't work. We need another tactic."

Camerupt nodded, then turned to Twilight. "You and Ponyta attack while I create a distraction," he commanded in a hushed whisper.

Twilight stole a glance at Drowzee, who was levitating pebbles from the ground and firing them at Swellow and the others. "But he's already distracted."

"Then let me distract him some more."

Twilight nodded, and so did Ponyta. They took a few paces back as Camerupt walked a full 180 degrees to the other side of the outlaw. As he did that, Ponyta whispered to Twilight. "How many moves do you know?"

She blinked, believing that she must have misheard Ponyta. "Pardon?"

"How many moves do you know?" she repeated.

Twilight's ears lowered. "Er... two?"

The Fire type reeled her head back slightly. "Oh. Um... Do you know Tackle?"

She nodded.

"Good. Do that."

"When?"

Large pillars of dirt rose from Camerupt's direction, all in front of the outlaw. Drowzee levitated the dirt away, trying to aim it at the Team Flame member.

"_Now_!" Ponyta said, rushing forward. Twilight stumbled to keep up.

The mare ran faster than anything Twilight had ever seen, maybe even faster than Swellow. Once she got close enough to Drowzee, she pushed herself in the air, landing her front hooves right on Drowzee's back.

"Grk!" he gasped out. Taking the opportunity, Twilight tackled the spot where he was just hit before he could recuperate.

As the duo made their way to Camerupt, Drowzee keeled over, his bruised back hunched upward. Everyone stayed silent, awaiting Drowzee's next move. Except... he wasn't moving? Did a few attacks really take him down that easily?

Suddenly, his body shimmered away, causing everyone to gasp.

"How did..." Camerupt started.

Marill, from atop Swellow, turned to see his brother still glowing red. "But that move's affect ain't done."

Something clapped. Then it clapped again. It continued, leaving everyone to search the darkness for the noise maker.

Twilight spotted the familiar yellow shimmer and gasped. "He's up there!"

"Bravo," said the voice of the confirmed Drowzee. "You managed to beat my substitute."

Chikorita's gasp could be heard at the other end. "A substitute that can fight?!"

"Indeed," he said, chuckling a bit. "Surely you must see my true power now?"

"Surely you must see how _we don't care?_" Swellow mocked.

He snarled. "Fine. I was going to go easy on you, but it looks like you don't want me to have fun." Drowzee snapped his fingers, then multiple copies of himself appeared around him. "So now we do things the hard way."

Marill stood upright, causing the avian she and Wurmple were standing on to shake slightly in the air. She then glared daggars at the outlaw. "We'll get through 'em faster than yew can say 'ow'!"

He smirked. "Definitely don't want that." Snapping his fingers again, the clones disappeared for a few seconds. They reappeared again, this time one in front of all eight fighting, and all were different colors.

"Lemme explain. Each of these clones have different fighting styles.

"White for agility..." He pointed to the one in front of Ponyta.

"Blue for reflexes..." Swellow.

"Red for brute power..." Camerupt.

"Orange for punches and kicks..." Marill.

"Pink for any miscellaneous physical attacks..." Wurmple.

"Light yellow for special attacks..." Chikorita.

"Green for resilience..." Bellsprout.

"And, my favorite, black for stealth." Twilight.

Each and every clone appeared in front of their respective opponent. Yet, nothing seemed to happen for Twilight. That is, until the clone opened its eyes, revealing two blue-glowing eyes.

_Right, it blends into the night,_ she remembered. _Joy._

"This ain't fair!" Marill said one she and Wurmple got off of Swellow.

He laughed at that. "Fair? It's every bit as fair. Eight against eight, and the ones who beat their clones can fight me."

Camerupt, though he didn't take his eyes off of his clone, spoke. "This is just a game to you." It wasn't a question.

Wurmple gasped. "A game?! YAY!"

Drowzee ignored the optimistic bug. "Yes, it is. So?"

Camerupt didn't answer.

"Let the games begin!"

* * *

Ponyta and the white Drowzee clone did nothing except stand. Stand and wait for the other to move.

"Come now dearie, don't keep me waiting. You are the fastest, after all."

As soon as she finished her sentence, the clone rushed towards her, too fast to be dodged. It managed to slam her sides, causing her to skitter a few yards away. She turned to face the clone, and she could have sworn that it was smirking.

She met that with a smirk of her own. "Now we begin."

* * *

Swellow and the blue clone, meanwhile, traveled slowly in a circle, always being an equal space apart.

"I heard you can't fly."

"I heard you can't dodge."

"I heard you hear lies."

"I heard you don't have ears."

"I—" she stopped, then gave a light hearted chuckle. "Heh. Touché."

They continued their insult challenge effortlessly.

* * *

He stomped his stout feet on the ground slowly, then began to pick up more speed. Soon, the ground within his vicinity began to shake, causing the clone to lose his bearings and tumble to the ground.

"You can't match my strength," Camerupt said as if it were a fact. He stopped stomping and the ground returned to normal.

The clone stood up, showing no signs of being damaged. In fact, it seemed even more battle ready than before. With speed befitting Ponyta, it rushed towards him, its eyes glowing purple.

Camerupt had little time to react.

* * *

"...Alright, this ain't fair."

She took one look at her stubby arms and her stubby legs, then at the orange clone in front of her, who was awaiting Marill to make the first move.

"No, really," she continued. "Yew got them long arms 'n legs, and I... yeah, this ain't fair."

The clone lifted its arm, which started to glow yellow with cackling electricity. Marill's eyes widened at that.

"Aw Horsea apples."

* * *

The pink clone didn't move. Couldn't move, that is. It was being continuously wrapped by a sticky white web.

For the first time in a long time, Wurmple wore an unamused expression. "You'd said this would be a game. This isn't a fun game!"

* * *

Um, excuse me, Mister Clone, if you wouldn't mind—" She was interrupted by a shadowy projectile landing on the ground in front of her. "EEP!"

Several more were shot at her, though she dodged most of them. Even then, the ones that hit her only hit her head leaf.

_Thank Arceus that it's not aiming well..._ she thought. But that raised the question of whether the clone couldn't aim well or _wouldn't_. For all she knew, it might have just been playing a game with her, waiting for her to keep her guard down.

Another Shadow Ball hit the ground and dissipated into the air. Now she was starting to question her doubts.

* * *

"Azurill, stand back."

"But I can't move..."

Bellsprout blinked, then slapped himself in the face. How stupid was he to say that?

The green clone grunted.

Scratch that. He was stupid to begin with. Trying to go free Azurill when there'd be no way to free him from Drowzee's attack wasn't the brightests of ideas. But that didn't matter now. There was no way to change what happened; he had to focus on beating this clone.

"Be careful!" said Azurill.

Bellsprout nodded. To start, vines extended from behind him and shot themselves toward the clone. "Take this!" he yelled. The two vines whipped themselves on its head.

...and it didn't phase it at all.

Bellsprout gulped. This would take a while.

* * *

Twilight ran all around in search of her clone foe. She whipped her head to and fro, awaiting any sign of her opponent. But there was none. It was like there _was_ no clone to fight.

Panting, she realized that she was tired, _and the clone hadn't attacked her yet_.

_This isn't working,_ she thought, trying to get her breathing to regulate. _I can't fight something that I can't see._

Just as she finished processing that thought, a shadow rushed its way towards her, hitting her chest with the force of a dozen bricks. She was pushed a few yards back, landing on her back.

"Ugh..." Twilight groaned.

A voice spoke from behind her. "Was that a Shadow Sneak attack?"

Twilight looked up to see Chikorita standing there, the Grass type's gaze fixed on the nearly hidden gray clone.

"I'm not the one you should be asking," Twilight answered, reminding her of Twilight's severely limited knowledge on Pokemon.

Chikorita gave an absentminded nod. "That's a Ghost type move... but you're a Normal type, Eevee. It shouldn't affect you."

Twilight stood up, ignoring the slight throb in her ribs. "Are you sure that..." She faltered once she noticed the light yellow clone behind Chikorita firing wispy balls of energy at her, only for every single one to miss. "Uh..."

Chikorita only glanced behind herself once to understand why Twilight was confused. "Oh! Um, the clone I'm fighting has a really bad aim." She turned to it and muttered. "No offense..."

Its response was to shoot another attack. Unfortunately, the attack hit Twilight square in the face, causing her to fall down once more.

"That was a Shadow Ball attack," Chikorita explained. "Another Ghost type move, and it shouldn't have hurt you."

"My face is stinging with pain, Chikorita. _It hurt me_," Twilight snapped as she stood up once more, holding a paw to the side of her face.

She cringed slightly at that, but spoke anyway. "But, um, it shouldn't have."

Twilight sighed, then turned her head back to her foe's direction. Just as she thought, it didn't seem to be there. That meant it was hiding in the shadows once more. "In any case, this will be harder if it can hit me when it shouldn't."

"Do you want a tip?"

Twilight shifted her gaze back to Chikorita. "Anything would be helpful, yes."

"If you keep your paws rooted to the ground, you, um... you won't be knocked down as easily," she explained, then glanced back over to her opponent. "I think I'm going to fight it. I don't want the poor thing to tire out."

Before Twilight could get a word in, Chikorita started towards the clone she was fighting. With no one else to talk to, Twilight turned back to the clone's direction... where ever it was.

She looked downward, her paws curling as much as it could into the stony ground. Feeling herself positioned securely, she lifted her head back up, and started waiting for the inevitable attack.

* * *

"Swellow, Wurmple, how ya'll holdin' up?" Marill asked after narrowly dodging the orange clone's leg sweeping under her..

Swellow shrugged. "Could be better. This moron right here doesn't know anymore good comebacks," she said, pointing a wing to the light blue clone in front of her.

Wurmple stopped spraying her foe with web to speak. "Hey! I resemble that!"

"Meant the clone, Wurmple, not you." She paused. "And it's resent, not resemble."

"Don't be silly, silly!" she said blissfully.

Swellow groaned. She was about to slap herself on the head, though the clone gave a grunting noise before she could do so. "What, finally come up with something good? Talk about slow reflexes."

The clone blinked. Then, it... imploded? Whatever the case, it became nonexistant.

Marill's eyes widened, partly because she had a revelation, partly because she had just gotten punched in the arm. Now that she thought about it, her arm was the only thing actually being hit.

She made her way to Swellow's side, temporarily avoiding the clone. "Ya beat it at its own game... _That's_ how we're supposed ta beat 'em!" She could have cheered. It seemed so obvious now.

"But it wasn't even _good _at it," she answered.

Marill took one look in Azurill's and Bellsprout's direction, then glanced at the clone she was fighting. Odds were, she wouldn't be able to defeat the orange clone. It was too much for her. But maybe she'd be more helpful by her brother's side.

"Swellow, ya think you can fight my clone?" she asked.

"Yeah," Swellow said without hesitation. "Seems easy."

Marill ignored the temptation to argue about her own foe not 'seeming easy' to herself. The arm bruises were proof of that. Instead, she nodded and made her way over to her younger brother.

Catching sight of her, Azurill smiled. "Marill!" His smile suddenly vanished. "Look out!"

She turn just in time to be hit in the face by a green blur, pushing her to the ground.

"Sorry!" Bellsprout yelled.

She didn't answer, instead opting to rub her now-stinging cheek. Careful to avoid Bellsprout and the green clone he was fighting, Marill stumbled closer to her brother. Seeing her brother's smiling again, and his smile growing gradually with each step she took, it made her want to smile herself.

She didn't, though, and she knelt down next to him, unsure of whether to touch him, as he was still glowing red. But her mind was screaming at her to do something, _anything_ to try and assure him that everything would be alright. Would words suffice?

No, it wouldn't. With little hesitation, Marill enveloped him in a hug, sending every bit of assurance she could give with that one action.

Then Marill started to glow.

* * *

"My, you're fast," Ponyta managed to say, even though, at the speed she and the clone were going, it would have been near impossible to speak.

The white clone didn't answer. Or maybe it couldn't?

Panting a few time, she continued. "But you can't run for-forever."

"Neither can you," it said so calmly, it was like it wasn't weighed down by the effort of running at all.

That surprised Ponyta long enough for her to misstep and trip, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Oof! Well then...!" she said, trying to stand up. "Aren't you a toughie?" She was suddenly weighed down to the ground.

"Ponyta?" Camerupt asked after dodging the red clone's Take Down. Despite her head being squished down, she could barely make out Camerupt widening his eyes at her.

"What's wrong, Cam... erupt..." It was then that she noticed her body glowing red. "Oh dear. This puts a damper on things."

* * *

_I can't hold like this forever, _Twilight thought. _It's bound to wear me down soon._

She scanned the darkness in front of her, again no sign of the grey clone. And yet, it always came out right before she considered letting her guard down, always attacking and then retreating, never staying to actually fight. Thank Celestia that Chikorita's tip allowed her to withstand the attacks without falling down each time. But that wouldn't be much use if she couldn't even _attack_ the enemy.

_Ooh, what am I supposed to do? I'm just a sitting duck right now! I can't attack the clone in the, in the darkness!_

In the darkness...

She couldn't hit the clone when it was in its own domain. But maybe she could lure it out.

"You're nothing but a coward!" she yelled.

Right then, the clone appeared and slammed Twilight in the chest, fleeing before she could even see him do so. She winced but ultimately kept up her stance.

"All you do is hit and run! That's not stealth, that's being a wimp!"

She hissed in pain as she received another hit, this time in her front left shoulder. The leg attached to it began to buckle under her, so she shifted her weight to her other legs.

_Stop this!_ her conscious screamed. _You're hurting yourself!_

"Come and face me like a true fighter!" she shouted from the top of her lungs, ignoring her mind's plea.

She heard a snarl, and then the clone emerged even fasted, jabbing her in the chest once more. But... it didn't leave? It didn't leave! This was her chance!

Ignoring her legs screaming in pain, she charged forward at the clone, tackling it in the stomach. It stumbled back, and Twilight tackled it once more.

_You're not getting away from me!_ she proclaimed within her mind, for fear that actually talking would drain the extremely limited energy she had.

She tackled its leg.

_I'm not giving you the chance to escape!_

The other leg.

_I'll fight until I lose consciousness! Do you hear me?_

One last, powerful Tackle to the chest caused it to drop like a tree, mimicking the same _crashing_ noise. Then, it faded away into the air above.

"... I'll keep fighting..." she whispered to herself, ending her mental speech.

Twilight turned to Chikorita and saw her standing above her yellow clone, which started to fade as well.

Turning to Swellow and Wurmple, she saw the avian swoop down to the orange clone (wasn't that the one Marill was fighting?), her wings turning silver and shiny. Only two crossing slashes were given, though they were more than enough to make the orange clone fall and fade away.

"Easy!" she boasted.

Wurmple's clone was completely covered in a sticky web, and she lightly tapped it, causing it to vanish as simple as that.

Camerupt rushed forward at the red clone, his head flaming brighter than the sun. He collided with its chest with a sickening [i]smack![/i]. Unlike the others, it kept its ground, albeit staggering about.

Bellsprout was whacking the green clone with vines like there was no tomorrow. It was short lived, though, as it fell to the ground a few seconds later, then disappearing like the rest.

Ponyta and Marill were both glowing red, just like Azurill. But that didn't make any sense. Marill's clone was defeated (by a different fighter, but defeated nonetheless). _She shouldn't have been glowing!_

A soft clap was able to pierce the deafening silence. Twilight turned to the source, whom emerged from the murky darkness, the clapping growing until it was audible by everyone.

Of course, it was Drowzee. "Good going. I didn't expect [i]most[/i] of you to win," he said, staring solely at Twilight. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, even when she made no mutual eye contact.

"We came, we kicked butt, now hand over Azurill!" Swellow roared.

Camerupt walked by her side, giving the avian a stern look. "That was only a warm up." He turned to Drowzee. "Wasn't it?"

He laughed. "Of _course_ it was, you fools. But some of you couldn't even get passed that. Isn't that right, Ponyta, Marill?"

Marill glared daggars at him, clutching her silently sobbing brother even tighter. The glow surrounding them began to tighten as well.

"I demand you release me from this... this... ooh!" Ponyta fumed, too angry to finish her sentence. "Let us go you hooligan!"

"Er, what about me?" Bellsprout piped up, still whacking the green clone with his vines.

Drowzee raised an eyebrow. "Which clone is that?"

"Resilience..." Azurill said, then Marill whispered something to him, probably lightly chiding him in answering the kidnapper.

"Huh," said Drowzee. "Must have made it too resilient. No wonder the rest of you beat those clones so easily."

Drowzee snapped his fingers, and then the green clone poofed out of existance. Right after, Bellsprout was weighed to the ground, gaining a red glow around him like the other three.

"Wha– _hey!_"

Drowzee cackled. "You didn't really beat it! So no next round for you!"

Twilight furrowed her brows together. If there was a 'next round', was that implying that it wouldn't be the _final_ round? How many rounds would they have to go through?

Coincidentally, Wurmple voiced Twilight's concerns, albeit in a more... upbeat manner. "Yay! Even more rounds!"

Chikorita visibly deflated. "M-M-More than one last round?!"

"Of course," he answered so nonchalantly, as if he weren't the villain in the situation. "I want to fight the best of the best."

"So it _is_ a game to you," Twilight accused the second time that night.

He laughed a little, which was strange, considering all of his bouts of laughter were heavy din prior to this. "Somewhat. I'm on a fighting hunt, and don't think I don't know how to weed you out."

He snapped his fingers, and then five clones appeared, all of them pitch black. If it weren't for their piercing red eyes, they would have been completely invisible in the night.

"These here specialize in something," Drowzee said. "But that's for you to find out! Shall we begin Rou—_OOF!_"

A blur shot through the air, whipping Twilight's fur forward. It hit Drowzee square in the guts, causing him to fall down to the ground below. At that moment, the glowing red eyes disappeared, and so must have the clones.

That blur turned out to be Swellow. She towered over his fallen figure, one foot keeping him held down. "We've had enough of your games, you... you..."

Drowzee smirked, despite being pinned down by a tough opponent. "Can't even come up with a comeback? I'm surprised you beat my reflex clo_oooOOH_!" He winced as Swellow dug her talons into his flesh. It wasn't enough to cause blood. Swellow certainly wasn't a monster. But that didn't mean that she _couldn't_.

Swellow couldn't take him on alone, Twilight was sure of it. She needed their help. Turning to Camerupt, she made eye contact with him. He nodded, thinking the same as her.

As he silently made his way to Swellow and Drowzee, Twilight turned to Chikorita and Wurmple. Unlike with him, the two were completely baffled on what to do until Chikorita glanced over at Camerupt's direction. Then, a spark of understanding flared in her eyes for a single moment. But it was enough. Another look at Wurmple said that she understood as well.

All four of them crept towards the outlaw and the avian pinning him down. As they did that, Swellow craned her neck down and glared at Drowzee something fierce. She opened her mouth to speak.

And then closed it. She let the smallest of smiles grow on her face, one that expressed her delight at knowing that Twilight and the others were sneaking over. It was too small for Drowzee to notice, though. Swellow put her face even closer, her beak barely missing the Psychic type's face.

"Your heart's as black as your clones.." And then she unclenched her talons, pushed him down, and shot up in the air, using the outlaw for an extra boost.

Before he could even recuperated, Camerupt jumped up in the air just high enough to overshadow Drowzee, then fell forefeet first right on his arm. A sickening _crunch_ reverberated through the arena.

Howling, he clutched his broken arm, writhing in agonizing pain.

Not a moment later, Twilight charged at him, tackling that same arm. She flipped in the air afterwards, landing on the other side of him. Her head snapped to the three others and the four in the air. "Hit whatever Camerupt hits!"

This gave Drowzee to stagger up, though it was short lived. Camerupt stomped the ground rapidly, causing everyone standing to fall to the ground. This included Drowzee, and, as luck would have it, he landed right on his bad arm.

He held back his scream, instead letting out a pitiful whimper. "Y-You..."

Then, Wurmple shot a string of web at his arms, pinning them down, as Swellow raked his torso on her way down. Camerupt shot a series of flames at him, accidentally melting the webs in the process. Swellow shot him a quick glare, to which he just shrugged.

After recuperating from the quake, Twilight's feet moved like light feathers, though there was little use for it. She moved to and fro, searching for an opportunity to attack, but none came. When Camerupt wasn't attacking, Swellow was. When Swellow wasn't attacking, Wurmple was busy using String Shot.

She couldn't do anything. And that infuriated her.

Hearing a whimper from behind, Twilight turned to find Chikorita quaking in fear. "Come on, Chikorita! We need to fight!"

She took a step back. "B-But I can't—"

"You _can_!" Twilight persisted. "Just—"

"_ENOUGH!_" roared Drowzee as his eyes shot open, glowing red. Suddenly, Swellow, Camerupt, and Wurmple were blown backwards, all landing nearby Ponyta. They didn't stand up. Just like the others, their bodies started glowing red, and they were weighed down to the ground.

Twilight and Chikorita gasped in unison, and they both turned to Drowzee. He was floating a foot above the ground, his body somewhat limp.

The red glow in his eyes seemed to be permanent.

Twilight's feet started to buckle, as everything began to feel heavier. It didn't take long for her to deduce the reason, though.

"E–Eevee..." Chikorita whispered, her eyes not leaving the approaching outlaw. "My legs feel—"

"Heavier," she finished. "His psychic interference is causing a distortion in the gravity."

The Grass type's eyes widened, and she gave a cross between a gulp and a whimper.

Twilight ignored her legs' urge to tremble, and just eyed Drowzee intently. Levitating in the air, he was slowly approaching the duo, his maliciously expression becoming even scarier the closer he got. Twilight's brain racked with possible ideas. They couldn't try escaping; Drowzee would surely catch them. There was nothing of the terrain that either of them could use to their advantage. And fighting him was certainly out of the question.

Chikorita's eyes finally left the Pokemon, now directed towards Twilight. "E-Eeeeevee... We-we have t-t-to do some-something...!"

She met her pleading gaze with a melancholic one of her own. "...What _can_ we do?"

Chikorita gave a small gasp, then hummed a defeated hum. She turned back to the outlaw, who was just a few meters away, not stopping in his course. And then Chikorita spoke so softly, Twilight almost didn't hear it.

"We tire him out... don't we." It was a statement.

Twilight inhaled, bracing herself. That should have been a suffice answer to her partner.

Drowzee lifted his arm, and the pitch darkness became even blacker in the sphere of energy he was summoning.

* * *

Azurill sobbed. "Marill... I—"

"Jus' stay still, Azurill," Marill tried assuring, though her voice wasn't calm enough for it. "We'll be gettin' you outta here real soon now."

He shifted his eyes to Drowzee, who looked so... so menacing. So floaty-in-the-airy. And so tough. What happened to the kind and caring Pokemon that he used to know? Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it wasn't! Maybe some other evil Drowzee took his place, and poor good Drowzee was stuck somewhere. This made the most sense to the child.

And yet, he knew in his heart that this was the same Drowzee in the flesh.

But Azurill's heart was breaking. Drowzee had destroyed the child's enormous trust he had put into the outlaw. And that is the fastest way for a Pokemon to shatter.

When Azurill saw Drowzee lift his arm up and even darker darkness formed, his heart began aching even more.

The red glow became even tighter.

* * *

Twilight stood there, confused, as Chikorita was blown back by the Shadow Ball. She didn't understand it. The attack was large enough to hit both of them, so why not her?

No, didn't Chikorita say something about that earlier? That she should have been immune to those type of attacks?

Apparently not. Just then, another Shadow Ball was directed at her. Unlike the last time, she was hit square in the face. She shrieked, momentarily blinded by the assault.

"Eevee!" she heard Chikorita yell. Then there was a thud. She couldn't tell if Drowzee knocked Chikorita down or if she knocked him down or—

Wait. She could feel something hard on the side of her head. Then an aching pain on that spot. Groaning, she stood back up and tried opening her eyes. No luck. She'd have to rely on her other senses.

Ignoring the pain in her head increasing, she called out, "Chikorita!"

"I-I'm here," she said, though something about her voice seemed... off.

"Where's Drowzee?!"

"Um... Everywhere? Can you see it yet?" she asked, fully aware of Twilight being temporarily blinded.

"No," she said. "Is he attacking?"

The answer came in the form of an action. Twilight felt a sudden push that brought her to the ground, then Chikorita shrieked in pain.

"_Chikorita!_" Twilight became fidgity, moving her paws around to turn to a direction where her friend might have been. "What happened?!"

Something jabbed her hard in the shoulder, and she started stumbling about, clenching her teeth at an attempt to stop her howl of pain.

"D-Drowzee...!" she seethed. "What did you do to my friend?!"

He didn't speak. Instead, something swiped at her legs, only barely missing.

_This isn't working,_ she thought, nearly out of breathe. _How can I beat something I can't see if my other senses are near useless? And it doesn't seem like he's stopping anytime soo—_ "GAH!"

She crumpled to the ground, her forelegs in searing pain. And then, at the worst time possible, she finally grasped the severity of the situation.

Twilight had barely a chance before. But at this disadvantage—blinded, bruised—there was no chance. No chance at all. And she'd be beaten to a pulp.

_Again,_ her mind said. _Coming here was a mistake. You should have left when you had the chance._

"I can't... give up..." she said through clenched teeth.

_Your friends aren't helping you this time, Twilight. Not even a word of encouragement. You can't win this._

A pained gasp, then Twilight's efforts gave out, and she fell to her side.

* * *

Drowzee chuckled deeply. "Heh. Finally."

Chikorita and Marill, the only ones not driven to fainting by exaustion from the Imprison that captivated them, stared wide eyed at Drowzee and Eevee, the latter having just fainted.

"Eevee... no..." whispered a teary Chikorita.

Marill's grip around Azurill started to weaken.

"Marill," Azurill said. "Are you okay...?"

"Ah–Ah'm fine," she mumbled, making an effort to retighten her grip, although it was in vain.

Seeing her eyes starting to droop down, Azurill shook her a little. "Marill, please stay awake!"

Suddenly, Chikorita gasped, and the siblings turned back to the outlaw and Eevee. Except... she was glowing, but not red. More like purple? Then, her limped body was lifted in the air. Drowzee's arm lifted as well, glowing just like Eevee. His cold, unforgiving eyes snapped towards the conscious trio, sending shivers down their spines.

"Your friend here is pathetic," he said, voice strangely calm. "Weak. How she made it to this point in life, I don't even know. And you all are idiots for being with her. She's just holding you back."

"Hey!" shouted Marill, the heavy toll of exhaustion being ignored. "You take that back! She's ahr friend!"

He scoffed. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a flying Fearow about that. I only want _him_." He pointed his free hand's finger straight at Azurill.

Marill hugged him tighter. "Yew ain't ever gettin' 'im!"

Smiling wryly, he said, "Oh, I think I will."

Eevee was levitated over the peak to the edge of it, no solid ground under her, except for a half dozen mile high plummet.

Chikorita gasped. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will. You have two choices. The easy way, where you weakling of a friend doesn't fall to her doom and you give up Azurill willingly, or the hard way, where she falls off and I take Azurill by force. Well then? What's it going to be?"

"_Option three!_" Eevee's eyes shot open, and she bit down on Drowzee's arm. The purple glow faded on both of them, as if it were being washed away.

Drowzee's screech reverberated throughout the summit. It turned into a low growl directed at the Normal type.

"You little... GRAH!" He flung her all the way across the arena, her weakened body smacking right into the rocky wall.

"Eevee!" Chikorita yelled, then shrank back and winced. The pressure of the Imprison was starting to take its toll on her. She couldn't stay conscious for much longer.

She glanced at Marill, who still stayed strong, her grip on her younger brother unwavering. How did she do it? Everyone else hadn't lasted long, not even Swellow or Camerupt, and Chikorita certainly wouldn't last the next five minutes.

Azurill tried to wriggle from his sister's grip. "Maaaarill, we can't just stay here! That Eevee needs our help!"

"...We have no choice," Marill muttered so softly, Chikorita could hardly hear it. The pain in her voice, however, was evident.

Her words echoed in Chikorita's mind. [i]We have no choice.[/i] Just as none of them could break free from the move's grasp, Marill couldn't stop staying awake. If she fainted, Azurill would be open prey for Drowzee, and Marill knew it.

Such weight Marill so willingly suffered through, Chikorita felt, was true dedication.

Speaking of dedication... Chikorita turned to Eevee, whom was trying her hardest to stand up. It was a pitiful sight, and Chikorita could feel the dread gnawing inside of her. She wanted to believe that Eevee could win against Drowzee, but... Eevee had little to no training. If someone like Swellow couldn't stand a chance, how could she?

The more Chikorita thought about it, though, the more she thought about Eevee in general. The Pokemon had no family (at least none that Chikorita knew of), no shelter, [i]no concept of Pokemon in general[/i], and Ghost type attacks were actually able to hurt her. Well, not exactly. Didn't the clone Chikorita was fighting accidentally hurl a Shadow Ball at Eevee, only for it not to work? Then what about the other ones that actually hit her?

A chill coarsed through her spine as she tried to make sense of the matter. It was too confusing for now. For now, she'd just concede that Eevee was one of the strangest friends she had, and that there were things that were simply best not known for now.

Everything started to blur. Chikorita didn't have much time left before she would slip into unconsciousness. Oh, Eevee [i]had[/i] to win this. She just _had_ to!

* * *

_Come on! Stand up!_ Twilight pleaded to her legs. They refused to do anything other than buckle beneath her weight.

_You should have given up when you had the cha-ance,_ sang the smug thoughts in her head.

_Be quiet!_ Twilight thought, too focused on standing up to give a decent rebuttle. Suddenly, the pressure on Twilight's legs, well, vanished. Like something was picking her u—

Oh Tartarus, she was glowing purple. And the ground was getting farther away. Then, her torso was violently pulled forwards, her head and legs along for the ride. She stopped short, face to face with Drowzee. Twilight gulped.

"Pathetic," hissed the outlaw, his wispy purple glare filled with malice. "You could've given up."

Fear grasped her like Drowzee's telekinisis. "I–I can't... give up..." she stammered.

Drowzee snarled, and he whipped his arm to the opposite direction, leading Twilight right over the edge of the summit.

Too scared to scream, Twilight only stared wide eyed and mouth agape at the plummit down. The dark of the night made it impossible to see the bottom, and that was what terrified her the most.

Drowzee turned to the three who were still pinned down but conscious. "You had your chance for the easy way. Because of _her_—" He gripped his hands closed even tighter, which made Twilight unable to breathe. It only lasted for a second, though. "—we'll do this the hard way."

Twilight's eyes widened further. _No no no no nononono,_ she thought.

"Say goodbye!"

"_NOOOO!_" But it didn't come from Twilight.

The light that chained Azurill down broke in two, and with speed thought impossible of a small creature, he ran towards Drowzee.

"Azurill!" Marill called after him, though she, somehow, was still affected by the Imprison.

Drowzee took a step back once Azurill twisted his tail around his leg. "What is this?" he demanded.

Azurill answered by sobbing in his leg, hiccuping violently. "D–Don't do—_hic!_—thiiis! Puh–Please!"

"Unhand me, child."

He shook his buried head, and his sobs turned from loud to soft whimpering. "Don't... Please, don't. This isn't like you. You're not evil, I [i]know[/i] it!"

Drowzee just eyed him intently, not bothering to speak.

"I know you're a good Pokemon!" Azurill continued. "You were so nice to me and Marill before, and it was real! I know it! You... you know it..."

"I know nothing of the sort," Drowzee said. He didn't make eye contact.

"Please Mister Drowzee, be the Pokemon I know. P–Please, I..." he trailed off, digging his face back into Drowzee's leg. The only evidence of Azurill crying now was his back jerking up and down.

Drowzee stared long and hard, so long that Twilight didn't notice his arm gradually receding until it made her hover over the ground instead of the air.

"And... why should I?" he whispered softly, sounding unsure of himself.

"Because..." He lifted his head, showing his eyes that glimmered, even in the dark. "You're my friend. And I'm your friend."

Drowzee's eyes and arm stopped glowing, and so did Twilight once she was set to the ground. Azurill's smile rivalled that of one Wurmple could do.

"What is this feeling I... feel?" he asked hesitantly.

Twilight grunted as she tried standing up, bringing his attention to her. "It's the magic of friendship. Something that everyone deserves."

For a moment, his mouth was ajar. Then, he closed it into a smile and hummed.

A light glimmered from behind him, and the three of them turned to see the sun starting to rise, bringing warmth to them all.

All except Twilight. If anything, it made her sink to the floor, happiness leaking out of her. It reminded her too much of Princess Celestia. Of Ponyville. Of Equestria. A place she had no way of returning to yet.

Azurill let go of Drowzee's leg and bounced over to Twilight. "Miss Eevee? Are you all right?"

Despite the hopelessness she was feeling, she managed a shaking smile. "I'm fine." _Or, at least, I will be._

Azurill cocked his head slightly, but shrugged and turned back to Drowzee.

Drowzee finally took his eyes off of the sun, and he turned to the others on the ground. "You were all trying to show me the error of my ways, and I acted unfairly. For that, I am sorry." He snapped his fingers and the red glow evaporated into thin air.

...and no one but Marill did anything. Even Chikorita, as she must have fell into unconsciousness moments ago. The Water type stood up, staggering towards her brother. After what seemed like an eternity, she made it to him. Marill did nothing for a few seconds, until

she reached a wavering arm out to him.

"Marill?" Azurill asked, staring her in her half-closed eyes.

Marill gave a shaky smile, and then her eyes rolled behind her eyelids. She sunk to the floor, fainted.

"_Marill!_" he yelled, rushing to her side. He nudged at her back. "Come on sis, wake up!"

"She's fainted," Drowzee said. "As with the rest."

"Do something, Mister Drowzee! Please!" Azurill pleaded.

"Alright then." His eyes shined pink as another pink light appeared from the darkness, which moved closer and closer to him until it ended up in his hands. As the pink faded, Drowzee dropped the items to the ground. "Take these Reviver Seeds," he said. "There's enough to revive three. Use these on the three strongest Pokemon, so they can bring the others back down."

Azurill nodded, picking the seeds up with his tail.

Drowzee turned around to leave. Azurill didn't notice, as he was too busy deciding who to revive. Twilight, however, did. "Drowzee, wait."

He stopped, glancing back at her.

She stumbled upward, unable to do more than a few steps. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd you do this?" she asked.

Drowzee closed his eyes and smiled, tilting his head downward. "For both selfish and selfless reasons. But I lost sight of the selfless part. I suppose you could say that I failed to realize friendship. Magic, isn't it? That's what you said?" His eyes opened and his head lifted back up, asking Twilight for confirmation.

Twilight nodded, too tired for words.

Drowzee turned back around. "Azurill, Eevee, farewell."

Azurill finally noticed Drowzee taking his leave. "Mister Drowzee? Will I see you again?"

He didn't answer. Or maybe he didn't hear. Either way, Drowzee disappeared into the mountain, the rising sun blinding his descent.

Twilight smiled. The sun was awfully pretty. Its warmth was starting to trickle within her.

It was short-lived, as a cold chill rushed throughout her entire body, and everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: Oh wow, this took longer than I thought.**

**In the actual games, it's the player character who has the vision of Azurill's cry for help and the exchange on top of the mountain. Then you and your partner fight Drowzee upon reaching the summit. Upon defeating him, he gets arrested by Magnezone. Obviously, he doesn't repent until late in the game, but when you have the magic of friendship, anything is possible.**

**So, you all must have noticed a few of these: [i][/i] See, I use them to mark where I need italics and all, and I end up missing a few. Once I'm farther in the story, I'll fix those, as well as a few other glaring errors (NO OFFICER I SWEAR IT WAS AN ORAN POFFIN NOT A KELPSY ONE).**

**If you haven't noticed, when the story is in perspective of the other characters (which'll only happen in large battles like this one), when they mention Twilight, they say Eevee. That's not a mistake, because, well, ****_they don't know that that's Twilight_****. Third person limited, fools.**

**What do you think Drowzee's "selfish and selfless" reasons are? How did Azurill break free from Imprison? Is Twilight going to have yet another nightmare? Find out next time on Losing Sight!**

**TVTropes is love, TVTropes is life. So someone mention this fic there, please.**


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